Love! inform thy faithful creature How to keep his fair one's heart; Must it be by truth of nature, Or by poor dissembling art? Tell the secret, show the wonder, How we both may gain our ends;...
Touch the lyre, touch every string; Touch it, Orpheus; I will sing A song which shall immortal be, Since she I sing's a deity; A Leonora, whose bless'd birth Has no relation to this earth.
Let perjured fair Amynta know What for her sake I undergo; Tell her, for her how I sustain A lingering fever's wasting pain; Tell her the torments I endure, Which only, only she can cure. ...
Phillis, this pious talk give o'er, And modesty pretend no more, It is too plain an art: Surely you take me for a fool, And would by this prove me so dull As not to know your heart. ...
While we to Jove select the holy victim Whom apter shall we sing than Jove himself, The god for ever great, for ever king, Who slew the earthborn race, and measures right...
Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol, (A fly upon the chariot-pole Cries out) What blue-bottle alive Did ever with such fury drive? Tell Beelzebub, great Father, tell,...
Lords, knights, and squires, the numerous band That wear the fair Miss Mary's fetters, Were summoned by her high command To show their passions by their letters.
When Jove lay bless'd in his Alcm'na's charms, Three nights in one he press'd her in his arms; The sun lay set, and conscious nature strove To shade her god, and to prolong his love....
You, Madam, may, with safety go Decrees of destiny to know; For at your birth kind planets reign'd, And certain happiness ordain'd: Such charms as yours are only given To chosen favourites of Heaven....
Whilst I in prison or in court look down, Nor beg thy favour nor deserve thy frown, In vain malicious Fortune hast thou tried By taking from my state to quell my pride:...
By Sylvia if thy charming self be meant; If friendship be thy virgin vows' extent, O! let me in Aminta's praises join, Hers my esteem shall be, my passion thine. When for thy head the garland I prepare,...
Once on a time, in sunshine weather, Falsehood and Truth walk'd out together, The neighbouring woods and lawns to view, As opposites will sometimes do: Through many a blooming mead they pass'd,...