ON HER MARRIAGE. FROM MENAGE.
HE greateft fwain that treads th' Arcadian
grove,
Our shepherds envy, and our virgins love,
His charming nymph, his fofter fair obtains,
The bright Diana of our flowery plains;
He, midft the graceful, of fuperior grace,
And she the lovelieft of the lovelieft race.
Thy fruitful influence, guardian Juno shed,
And crown the pleasures of the genial bed,
Raise thence, their future joy, a smiling heir,
Brave as the father, as the mother fair.
Well may'ft thou shower thy choicest gifts on those,
Who boldly rival thy most hated foes;
The vig'rous bridegroom with Alcides vies,.
And the fair bride has Cytherea's eyes.
WITH A PRESENT OF FLOWERS.
Each beauteous flower-rofes and jessamin
Rear'd high their flourish'd heads.
HE fragrant painting of our flowery fields,
The choiceft ftores that youthfulfummer yields,
Strephon to fair Elisa hath convey'd,
The sweetest garland to the sweetest maid.
O! cheer the flowers, my fair, and let them reft
On the Elyfium of thy fnowy breast,
And there regale the fmell, and charm the view,
With richer odours, and a lovelier hue.
Learn hence, nor fear a flatterer in the flower,
Thy form divine, and beauty's matchless power:
Faint, near thy cheeks, the bright carnation glows,
And thy ripe lips out-blush the opening rofe;
The lily's fnow betrays lefs pure a light,
Loft in thy bofom's more unsullied white;
And wreaths of jafmine fhed perfumes, beneath
Th' ambrofial incenfe of thy balmy breath.
Ten thousand beauties grace the rival pair,
How fair the chaplet, and the nymph how fair!
But ah! too foon these fleeting charms decay,
The fading luftre of one haftening day,
This night shall see the gaudy wreath decline,
The roses wither, and the lilies pine.
The garland's fate to thine shall be applied,
And what advanc'd thy form, fhall check thy pride:
Be wife, my fair, the present hour improve,
Let joy be new, and now a waste of love;
Each drooping bloom fhall plead thy juft excufe,
And that which fhow'd thy beauty, fhow its use.
For Cupid taught the artift hand its grace,
And Venus wanton'd in the mimic face.
Now he laments a look fo falfly fair,
And almost damns, what yet resembles her;
Now he devours it with his longing eyes;
Now fated, from the lovely phantom flies,
Yet burns to look again, yet looks again, and dies.
Her ivory neck his lips presume to kiss,
And his bold hands the fwelling bofom prefs;
The swain drinks in deep draughts of vain defire,
Melts without heat, and burns in fancied fire.
Strange power of paint! thou nice creator art!
What love infpires, may life itself impart.
Struck with like wounds, of old, Pygmalion pray'd,
And hugg'd to life his artificial maid;
Clafp, new Pygmalion, clasp the seeming charms,
Perhaps even now th' enlivening image warms,
Deftin'd to crown thy joys, and revel in thy arms:
Thy arms, which fhall with fire fo fierce invade,
That the at once shall be, and cease to be a maid.
Cæfar, having refolved to give battle to Petreius and Afranius, Pompey's lieutenants in Spain, encamped near the enemy in the fame field. The behaviour of their foldiers, at their feeing and knowing one another, is the fubject of the following verses.
Heir antient friends, as now they nearer drew,
Prepar'd for fight the wondering foldiers knew: Brother, with brother in unnatʼral strife, And the fon arm'd against the father's life : Çurft civil war! then confcience first was felt, And the tough veteran's heart began to melt. Fix'd in dumb forrow all at once they stand, Then wave, a pledge of peace, the guiltless hand; For vent ten thousand struggling paffions move, The ftings of nature, and the pangs of love. All order broken, wide their arms they throw, And run, with transport, to the longing foe: Here their long-loft acquaintance neighbours claim, There an old friend recalls his comrade's name,
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