In caufes juft, would all the Gods oppose,
'Twere honeft to difpute; fo Cato chofe.
Difmifs that plea, and what fhall blood avail?
If beauty is deny'd, fhall birth prevail?
Blood, and high deeds, in diftant ages done,
Are our forefathers merit, not our own.
Might none a juft poffeffion be allow'd,

But who could bring defert, or boast of blood?
What numbers, even here, might be condemn'd,
Strip'd, and defpoil'd of all, revil'd, contemn'd?
Take a juft view, how many may remark,
Who now's a peer, his grandfire was a clerk:
Some few remain, ennobled by the fword
In Gothic times: But now to be My Lord,
Study the law; nor do these robes 'defpife;
Honour the gown, from whence your honours rife.
Thofe fam'd dictators, who fubdu'd the globe,
Gave the precedence to the peaceful robe;
The mighty Julius, pleading at the bar,
Was greater, than when thundering in the war
He conquer'd nations: "Tis of more renown
To fave a client, than to ftorm a town.

How dear to Britain are her darling laws! What blood has the not lavish'd in their caufe! Kings are like common flaves to flaughter led, Or wander through the world to beg their bread. "When regal power afpires above the laws, "A private wrong becomes a public caufe."

He fpoke. The nobles differ, and divide,
Some join with Law, and fome with Beauty fide.
Mordaunt, though once her flave, infults the Fair,
Whofe fetters 'twas his pride, in youth, to wear:
So Lucifer revolting, brav'd the power
Whom he was wont to worship and implore.
Like impious is their rage, who have in chace
A new Omnipotence in Grafton's face.
But Rochester, undaunted, juft, and wife,
Afferts the Goddefs with the charming eyes;
And O! may Beauty never want reward

For thee, her noble champion, and her guard.
Beauty triumphs, and Law fubmitting lies,
The tyrant tam'd, aloud for mercy cries;
Conqueft can never fail in radiant Grafton's eyes.

W

"HEN fam'd Apelles fought to frame Some image of th' Idalian dame,

To furnish graces for the piece,

He fummon'd all the nymphs of Greece;
So many mortals were combin'd,

To fhew how one immortal fhin'd.

Had Hyde thus fat by proxy too,
As Venus then was faid to do,
Venus herself, and all the train
Of Goddeffes had fummon'd been ;
The painter muft have fearch'd the skies,
To match the luftre of her eyes.

Comparing then, while thus we view
The ancient Venus, and the new ;
In her we many mortals fee,

As many Goddefles in thee.

*Afterwards Countess of Clarendon and Rochester.

9

Lady Hyde having the Small Pox, on after the Recovery of Mrs. Mohun.

CARCE could the general joy for Mohun appear,

SCA

But new attempts fhew other dangers near;
Beauty's attack'd in her imperial fort,

Where all her loves and graces kept their court;
In her chief refidence, befieg'd at last,
Laments to fee her faireft fields laid wafte.

On things immortal, all attempts are vain;
Tyrant Difeafe, 'tis lofs of time and pain;
Glut thy wild rage, and load thee with rich prize
Torn from her cheeks, her fragrant lips, and eyes;
Let her but live; as much vermilion take,
As might an Helen, or a Venus make;
Like Thetis, fhe shall fruftrate thy vain rape,
And in variety of charms efcape.

The twinkling stars drop numberlefs each night, Yet fhines the radiant firmament as bright; So from the ocean fhould we rivers drain, Still would enough to drown the world remain.

unfcafonably furprifed in the Embraces of her Lord.

AIREST Zelinda, ceafe to chide, or grieve;

FA

Nor blush at joys that only you can give; Who with bold eyes furvey'd thofe matchlefs charms, Is punifh'd, feeing in another's arms: With greedy looks he views each naked part, Joy feeds his eyes, but envy tears his heart. So caught was Mars, and Mercury aloud Proclaim'd his grief, that he was not the God; So to be caught was every God's defire: Nor less than Venus, can Zelinda fire. Forgive him then, thou more than heavenly Fair, Forvive his rafhnefs, punith'd by despair; All that we know, which wretched mortals feel In thofe fad regions where the tortur'd dwell, Is, that they fee the raptures of the blefs'd, And view the joys which they must never taste.

W

TO FLAVIA.

Written on her Garden in the Nerth.

HAT charm is this, that in the midst of fro,
Of storms and blafts, the choiceft fruits do grow?
Melons, on beds of ice are taught to bear,
And strangers to the fun, yet ripen here;
On frozen ground the fweeteft flowers arife,
Unfeen by any light, but Flavia's eyes;
Where-e'er the treads, beneath the Charmer's feet
The rofe, the jefs mine, and the lilies meet;
Where-e'er the looks, behold fome fudden birth
Adorns the trees, and fructifies the earth;
In midst of mountains, and unfruitful ground,
As rich an Eden as the first is found.
In this new Paradife the Goddess reigns,
In fovereign state, and mocks the lover's pains;
Beneath thofe beams that fcorch us from her eyes,
Her fnowy bofom ftill unmelted lies;

Love from her lips fpreads all his odours round,
But bears on ice, and fprings from frozen ground.
So cold the clime that can fuch wonders bear,
The garden feems an emblem of the fair.

TO

TO THE SAME.

Her Gardens having escaped a Flood that had laid all the Country round under Water.

WH

HAT hands divine have planted and protect, The torrent fpares, and deluges refpect; So when the waters o'er the world were fpread, Covering each oak, and every mountain's head, The chofen Patriarch fail'd within his ark, Nor might the waves o'erwhelm the facred bark. The charming Flavia is no lefs, we find, The favourite of Heav'n, than of mankind; The Gods, like rivals, imitate our care, And vie with mortals to oblige the Fair; Thefe favours thus beftow'd on her alone, Are but the homage which they fent her down. O Flavia! may thy virtue from above

Be crown'd with bleffings, endless as my love.

TO MY FRIEND DR. GARTH.

M

IN HIS SICKNESS.

ACHAON fick, in every face we find,
His danger is the danger of mankind;
Whose art protecting, Nature could expire
But by a Deluge, or the general Fire.
More lives he faves, than perish in our wars,
And fafter than a plague deftroys, repairs.
The bold caroufer, and advent'rous dame,
Nor fear the fever, nor refufe the flame;
Safe in his fkill, from all restraints fet free,
But confcious fhame, remorfe, or piety.

Sire of all arts, defend thy darling fon;
O! fave the man whofe life's fo much our own!
On whom, like Atlas, the whole world's reclin'd,
And by reftoring Garth, preferve mankind.

TO MY DEAR KINSMAN, CHARLES LORD LANSDOWNE. Upon the Bombardment of the Town of Granville in Normandy, by the English Fleet.

HO' built by Gods, confum'd by hoftile flame, Troy bury'd lies, yet lives the Trojan name; And fo fhall thine, though with thefe walls were loft All the records our ancestors could boaft. For Latium conquer'd, and for Turnus flain, Aneas lives, though not one stone remain Where he arofe: Nor art thou lefs renown'd For thy loud triumphs on Hungarian ground.

Thofe arms which for nine centuries had brav'd The wrath of Time, on antique ftone engrav'd, Now torn by mortars, ftand yet undefac'd On nobler trophies, by thy valour rais'd: Safe on thy Eagle's wings they foar above The rage of war, or thunder to remove, Borne by the Bird of Cæfar, and of Jove.

* Apollo, God of Poetry and Phyfic. The Granville Arms ftill remaining at that time on one of the gates of the town.

He was created a Count of the Empire, the Family Arms to be borne for ever upon the breaft of the Imperial fpread Eagle.

The Poet, with a pencil lefs confin'd,
Shall paint her virtues, and defcribe her mind,
Unlock the fhrine, and to the fight unfold
The fecret gems, and all the inward gold.
Two only patterns do the Mufes name,
Of perpect beauty, but of guilty fame;
A Venus and an Helen have been seen,
Both perjur'd wives, the Goddess and the Queen:
In this the third, are reconcil'd at laft
Thofe jarring attributes of Fair and Chaste,
With graces that attract, but not enfnare,
Divinely good, as fhe's divinely fair;
With beauty, not affected, vain, nor proud;
With greatnefs, eafy, affable, and good :
Others by guilty artifice, and arts

Of promis'd kindness, practice on our hearts,
With expectation blow the paffion up;
She fans the fire, without one gale of hope,
Like the chafte moon, fhe fhines to all mankind,
But to Endymion is her love confin'd.
What cruel destiny on Beauty waits,
When on one face depend fo many fates!
Oblig'd by honour to relieve but one,
Unhappy men by thousands are undone.

TO MRS. GRANVILLE, OF WOTTON IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE;

Lo

AFTERWARDS LADY CONWAY.

OVE, like a tyrant whom no laws constrain, Now for fome ages kept the world in pain; Beauty, by vaft deftructions got renown, And Lovers only by their rage were known: But Granville, more aufpicious to mankind, Conqu'ring the heart, as much inftructs the mind; Bleft in the fate of her victorious eyes, Seeing, we love; and hearing, we grow wife: So Rome for wifdom, as for conqueft fam'd, Improv'd with arts, whom the by arms had tam'd. Above the clouds is plac'd this glorious light, Nothing lies hid from her enquiring fight; Athens and Rome for arts reftor'd rejoice, Their language takes new music from her voice; Learning and Love, in the fame feat we find, So bright her eyes, and fo adorn'd her mind.

Long had Minerva govern'd in the skies, But now defcends, confeft to human eyes; Behold in Granville, that infpiring Queen, Whom learned Athens fo ador'd unfeen.

DESERTION.

OW fly, Difcretion, to my aid,

No

See haughty Myra, fair and bright, In all the pomp of love array'd;

Ah! how I tremble at the fight!
She comes, the comes-before her all
Mankind does proftrate fall.
Love, a destroyer fierce and young,
Advent'rous, terrible, and ftrong,
Cruel and rash, delighting ftill to vex,
Sparing nor age nor fex,

Commands in chief; well fortify'd he lies,
And from her lips, her cheeks and eyes,
All oppofition he defies.

Reafon, Love's old inveterate foe,
Scarce ever reconcil'd till now,

Reason affifts her too.

A wife commander he, for council fit ;
But nice and coy, nor has been seen to fit
In modern fynod, nor appear'd of late
In courts, nor camps, nor in affairs of state;
Reafon proclaims them all his foes,
Who fuch refiftlefs charms oppose.
My very bofom friends make war
Within my breaft, and in her interests are;
Esteem and judgment with ftrong fancy join
To court, and call the fair invader in ;
My darling favourite inclination too,
All, all confpiring with the foe.
Ah! whither shall I fly to hide

My weakness from the conqu'ror's pride?
Now, now, Difcretion be my guide.
But fee, this mighty Archimedes too,
Surrenders now.

Prefuming fonger to refift

His very name,
Difcretion must disclaim;

Folly and madness only would perfift.

In framing Myra fo divinely fair,
Nature has taken the fame care;
All that is lovely, noble, good, we fee,
All, beauteous Myra, all bound up in thee.
Where Myra is, there is the Queen of Love,
Th' Arcadian paftures, and th' Idalian grove.
Let Myra dance, fo charming is her mien,
In every movement every grace is feen;
Let Myra fing, the notes fo fweetly wound,
The fyrens would be filent at the found.
Place me on mountains of eternal fnow,
Where all is ice, all winters winds that blow;
Or caft me underneath the burning line,
Where everlasting fun does thine;
Where all is fcorch'd-whatever you decree,
Ye Gods! wherever I fhall be,

Myra fhall still be lov'd, and still ador'd by me.

N

ATURE indulgent, provident and kind,

In all things that excell, fome ufe defign'd;

The radiant fun, of every heavenly light
The first (did Myra not difpute that right)
Sends from above ten thousand bleffings down;
Nor is he fet fo high for fhow alone,

His beams reviving with aufpicious fire,
Freely we all enjoy what all admire :

The moon and stars, thofe faithful guides of night,
Are placed to help, not entertain the fight:
Plants, fruits, and flowers the fertile fields produce,
Not for vain ornament, but wholesome ufe;
Health they restore, and nourishment they give,
We fee with pleasure, but we taste to live.

Then think not, Myra, that thy form was meant
More to create defire, than to content;
Would the just gods fo many charms provide
Only to gratify a mortal's pride?

Would they have form'd thee fo above thy fex,
Only to play the tyrant, and to vex?
'Tis impious pleafure to delight in harm,

And Beauty fhould be kind as well as charm.

MYRA SINGING.

HE fyrens, once deluded, vainly charm'd,

Try'd to the maft, Ulyfies fail'd unharm'd;

Had Myra's voice entic'd his liftening car,

The Greek had stopt, and would have dy'd to hear.
When Myra fings, we feek th' enchanting found,
And blefs the notes that do fo fweetly wound.
What mufic needs must dwell upon that tongue,
Whofe fpeech is tuneful as another's fong!
Such harmony! fach wit! a face fo fair!
So many pointed arrows who can bear?
Who from her wit, or from her beauty flies,
If with her voice fhe overtakes him, dies.
Like foldiers fo in battle we fucceed,
One peril 'fcaping, by another bleed;
An vain the dart, or glittering fword we fhun,
Condemn'd to perish by the flaughtering gun.

THE PROGRESS OF BEAUTY.

HE God of day defcending from above,

Mixt with the fea, and got the Queen of love. Beauty, that fires the world, 'twas fit fhould rife From him alone who lights the ftars and fkies. In Cyprus long, by men and Gods obey'd, The lover's toil the gratefully repaid, Promifcuous bleffings to her flaves affign'd, And taught the world that Beauty should be kind. Learn by this pattern, all ye fair, to charm, Bright be your beams, but without fcorching warm.

Helen was next from Greece to Phrygia brought, With much expence of blood and empire fought: Beauty and Love the nobleft caufe afford, That can try valour, or employ the fword. Not men alone incited by her charms,

But Heaven's concern'd, and all the Gods take arms.

The happy Trojan gloriously poffeft,
Enjoys the dame, and leaves to fate the rest.
Your cold reflections, moralifts, forbear,
Itis title's best who beft can please the fair.
And now the Gods, in pity to the cares,
The fierce defires, distractions, and defpairs
Of tortur'd men, while beauty was contin'd,
Refolv'd to multiply the charming kind.
Greece was the land where this bright race begun,
And faw a thoufand rivals to the fun.
Hence follow'd arts, while cach employ'd his care
In new productions to delight the fair :
To bright Afpafia Socrates retir'd,

His wifdom grew but as his love infpir'd;
Thofe rocks and oaks which fuch emotions felt,
Were cruel maids whom Orpheus taught to melt;
Mufic, and fongs, and every way to move
The ravish'd heart, were feeds and plants of love.

The Gods, entic'd by fo divine a birth,
Defcend from heaven to this new heaven on earth;
Thy wit, O Mercury's no defence from love;
Nor Mars, thy target; nor thy thunder, Jove.
The mad immortals in a thoufand fhapes,

Range the wide globe; fome yield, fome fuffer rapes,
Invaded, or deceiv'd, not one escapes.

The wife, though a bright Goddefs, thus gives place
To mortal concubines of fresh embrace;
By fuch examples were we taught to fee
The life and foul of love, is fweet variety.

In those first times, ere charming womankind
Reform'd their pleafures, polishing the mind,
Rude were their revels, and obfcene their joys,
The broils of drunkards, and the luft of boys;
Phebus laments for Hyacinthus dead,
And Juno jealous, ftorms at Ganymed.
Return, my Mufe, and clofe that odious fcene,
Nor ftain thy verfe with images unclean;
Of Beauty fing, her fhining progress view,
From clime to clime the dazzling light purfue,
Tell how the Goddess fpread, and how in empire

grew.

Let others govern, or defend the fate, Plead at the bar, or manage a debate, In lofty arts and fciences excell, Or in proud domes employ their boafted skill, To marble and to brafs, fuch features give, The metal and the ftone may feem to live; Defcribe the stars, and planetary way, And trace the footfleps of eternal day: Be this, my Mufe, thy pleasure and thy care, A flave to beauty, to record the Fair. Still wand'ring in love's fweet delicious maze, To fing the triumph of fome heavenly face, Of lovely dames, who with a fmile or frown, Subdue the proud, the fuppliant lover crown. From Verus down to Myra bring thy fong, To thee alone fuch tender talks belong.

From Greece to Afric Beauty takes her flight, And ripens with her near approach to light: Frown not, ye Fair, to hear of fwarthy dames, With radiant eyes, that take unerring aims; Beauty to no complexion is confin'd, Is of all colours, and by none defin'd; Jewels that fhine, in gold or filver fet, As precious and as fparkling are in jet.

Here

Here Cleopatra, with a liberal heart,
Bounteous of love, improv'd the joy with art,
The first who gave recruited flaves to know
That the rich pearl was of more use than show,
Who with high meats, or a luxurious draught,
Kept love for ever flowing, and full fraught.
Julius and Anthony, thofe lords of all,
Each in his turn prefent the conquer'd ball;
Those dreadful eagles that had fac'd the light
From pole to pole, fall dazzled at her fight:
Nor was her death lefs glorious than her life,
A conftant mistress, and a faithful wife;
Her dying truth fome generous tears would coft,
Had not her fate* infpir'd the World well Loft;
With fecret pride the ravish'd Mufes view
The image of that death which Dryden drew.

Pleas'd in fuch happy climates, warm and bright,
Love for fome ages revel'd with delight;
The martial Moors in gallantry refin'd,
Invent new arts to make their charmers kind;
See in the lifts, by golden barriers bound,
In warlike ranks they wait the trumpet's found;
Some love-device is wrought on every fword,
And every ribbon bears fome mystic word.
As when we fee the winged winds engage,
Mounted on courfers, foaming flame and rage,
Ruftling from every quarter of the sky,
North, caft, and weft, in airy fwiftnefs vie;
One cloud repuls'd, new combatants prepare
To meet as fierce, and form a thundering war;
So when the trumpet founding, gives the fign,
The juftling chiefs in rude rencounter join,
So meet, and fo renew the dextrous fight,
Each fair beholder trembling for her knight;
Still as one falls, another rushes in,

And all must be o'ercome, or none can win.
The victor, from the fhining dame, whofe eyes
Aided his conqu'ring arm, receives a precious prize.

Thus flourish'd Love, and Beauty reign'd in state,
Till the proud Spaniard gave thefe glories date:
Paft is the gallantry, the fame remains,
Tranfmitted fafe in Dryden's lofty scenes;
Granada † loft, beheld her pomps reftor'd,
And Almahide ‡, once more by kings ador'd.

Love driven thence, to colder Britain flies,
And with bright nymphs the diftant fun fupplies;
Romances which relate the dreadful fights,
The loves and prowess of advent'rous knights;
To animate their rage, a kifs record
From Britain's fairelt nymph was the reward;
Thus ancient to Loye's empire was the claim
Of British beauty, and so wide the fame,
Which, like our flag upon the feas, gives law
By right avow'd, and keeps the world in awe.

Our gallant kings of whom large annals prove
The mighty deeds, ftand as renown'd for love;
A monarch's right o'er Beauty they may claim,
Lords of that ocean from whence Beauty came.

All for Love; or, The World well Loft: written by Mr. Dryden.

†The Conquest of Granada; written by Mr. Dryden.

The part of Almahide, performed by Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn, Miftrefs to King Charles II.

Thy Rofamond, great Henry, on the stage,
By a late Mufe prefented in our age,
With aking hearts, and flowing eyes we view,
While that diffembled death presents the true
In Bracegirdle §, the perfons fo agree,
That all feem. real the fpectators fee.

Of Scots and Gauls defeated, and their kings,
Thy captives, Edward, Fame for ever fings;
Like thy high deeds, thy noble loves are prais'd,
Who haft to Love the nobleft trophy rais'd:
Thy ftatues, Venus, though by Phidias' hand,
Defign'd immortal, yet no longer stand;
The magic of thy fhining zone is paft,
But Salilbury's Garter fhall for ever laft,
Which through the world by living monarchs worn,
Adds grace to fceptres, and does crowns adorn.

If fuch their fame who gave these rights divine To ficred Love, O! what dishonour's thine, Forgetful Queen, who fever'd that bright || head Which charm'd two mighty monarchs to her bed? Hadit thou been born a man, thou hadft not err'd, Thy fame had liv'd, and Beauty been preferr'd; But O! what mighty magic can affuge A woman's envy, and a bigot's rage?"

Love tir'd at length, Love, that delights to fmile,
Flying from scenes of horror, quits our ifle,
With Charles, the Cupids and the Graces gone,
In exile live, for Love and Charles were one;
With Charles he wanders, and for Charles he mourns,
But O! how fierce the joy when Charles returns!
As eager flames with oppofition pent,

Break out impetuous when they find a vent;
As a fierce torrent bounded on his race,
Forcing his way, rolls with redoubled pace
From the loud palace to the filent grove,
All, by the King's example, live and love;
The Mufes with diviner voices fing;
And all rejoice to please the godlike King.

Then Waller in immortal verse proclaims
The fhining court, and all the glittering dames;
Thy beauty, Sydney †, like Achilles' fword,
Refiftlefs, ftands upon as fure record;
The fierceft hero, and the brightest dame,
Both fung alike, fhall have their fate the fame.

And now, my Mufe, a nobler flight prepare,
And fing fo loud that heaven and earth may hear.
Behold from Italy an awful ray

Of heavenly light illuminates the day,
Northward the bends, majestically bright,
And here fhe fixes her imperial light.
Be bold, be bold, my Mufe, nor fear to raise
Thy voice to her who was thy earliest praise ;
What though the fullen Fates refuse to shine,
Or frown fevere on thy audacious line,
Keep thy bright theme within thy fteady fight,
The clouds fhall fly before the dazzling light,
And everlasting day direct thy lofty flight.

A famous actress.

Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded by Queen Eliza

beth. *The Rebellion; and death of King Charles I.

The Lady Dorothy Sydney, celebrated by Mr. Waller under the name of Sachariffa.

Thou