when 'tis true, needs not the aid Of Sighs nor Oaths to make it known; And, to convince the cruel'ft Maid, Lovers fhould use their Love alone:
Into their very Looks 'twill fteal;
And he that most wou'd hide his Flame Does in that Cafe his Pain reveal, Silence it felf can Love proclaim,
This, my Aurelia, made me fhun
The Paths that common Lovers tread; Whofe guilty Paffions are begun
Not in their Heart, but in their Head.
I cou'd not Sigh, and with crofs'd Arms
Accufe your Rigour and my Fate,
Nor tax your Beauty with fuch Charms
As Men adore, and Women hate:
But careless liv'd, and without Art,
Knowing my Love you must have spy'd, And thinking it a foolish Part,
To fet to fhew, what none can hide.
Loris, you live ador'd by all,
And yet on none your Favours fall, A ftranger Miftrefs ne'er was known; You pay 'em all in paying none.
We him of Avarice accufe,
Who what he has forbears to use;
But what Disease of Mind fhall I
Call this, thy hated Penury?
Thou wilt not give out of a Store,
Which no Profufenefs can make poor.
Mifers, when dead, they make amends,
And in their Wills enrich their Friends
But when thou dy'ft, thy Treasure dies
And thou canst leave no Legacies.
What Madness is it then to fpare,
When we want Power to make an Heir?
Live, Cloris, then at the full Rate
Of thy great Beauty; and fince Fate,
To Love and Youth, is fo fevere,
Enjoy 'em freely while th' art here.
Some Caution yet I'd have thee ufe,
When e'er thou doft a Servant chufe:
Men are not all for Lovers fit,
No more than Arms, or Arts of Wit:
For Wisdom fome respected are,
Some we fee powerful at the Bar;
Some for Preferment waste their Time,
And the steep Hill of Honour climb.
Others of Love their Business make,
In Love their whole Diversion take.
Take one of those; for in one Breaft
Two Paffions live but ill at reft:
Be wife, and with Difcretion fly
All that take Flame at every Eye.
All forts with powder'd Coat and Hair;
All that dare more than think thee Fair.
Take one of Love who nothing fays,
And yet whom every word betrays;
Love in the Cradle pretty'ft fhews,
And when't can fpeak, unruly grows.
Hen fair Aurelia first became
The Mistress of his Heart,
So mild and gentle was her Reign,
Thirfis in hers had part.
Referves and Care he laid afide,
And gave a Loose to Love;
The headlong Course he must abide,
[How fteep fo e'er it prove.
At first Disdain and Pride he fear'd;
But they being overthrown,
No fecond Foe a while appear'd,
And he thought all his own:
He thought himself a happier Man
Than ever lov'd before;
Her Favour ftill his Hopes out-ran,
Yet ftill he lov'd the more:
Love fmil'd at firft, then looking grave,
Said, Thirfis, leave to boast;
More joy than all her Kindness gave,
Her Fickleness will coft.
He spoke, and from that fatal Time,
All Thirfis did, or faid,
Appear'd unwelcome, or a Crime
To the ungrateful Maid.
Ear not, my Dear, a Flame can never dye, That is once kindled by fo bright an Eye; View but thy felf,and meafure thence my Love, Think what a Paffion fuch a Form must move; For though thy Beauty firft allur'd my Sight, Now I confider it but as the Light
That led me to the Treafury of thy Mind, Whofe inward Vertue in that Feature fhin'd. That Knot be confident will ever laft, Which Fancy ty'd, and Reafon has made fast So faft that time, although it may difarm Thy lovely Face, my Faith can never harm; And Age deluded, when it comes, will find My Love remov'd, and to thy Soul affign'd.
Air Amaranta, wert thou not to blame,
To blow the Fire, and wonder at the
Flame?
I did converfe, 'tis true, fo far was mine,
But that I lov'd, and hop'd was wholly thine;
Not hop'd as others do, for a Return,
But that I might without offending burn.
Ithought thofe Eyes which every Hour enflave
Could not remember all the Wounds they gave:
Forgotten in the Crowd I wifht to lie,
And of your Coldnefs, not your Anger, die;
Yet fince you know I love, 'tis now no time
Longer to hide, let me excufe the Crime,
Seeing what Laws I to my Paffion give,
Perhaps you may confent that it should live:
|