Ah, mighty God! with fhame I speak 't, and grief,
Ah, that our greatest faults were in belief !
And our weak reafon were ev'n weaker yet,
Rather than thus our wills too ftrong for it!
His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might
Be wrong; his life, I 'm fure, was in the right;
And I myself a Catholick will be,
So far at least, great Saint! to pray to thee.
Hail, bard triumphant! and fome care bestow
On us, the poets militant below!
Oppos'd by our old enemy, adverse Chance,
Attack'd by Envy and by Ignorance ;
Enchain'd by Beauty, tortur'd by Defires,
Expos'd by Tyrant-Love to favage beafts and fires,
Thou from low earth in nobler flames didst rise,
And, like Elijah, mount alive the skies.
Elisha-like (but with a wish much less,
More fit thy greatness and my littleness)
Lo! here I beg (I, whom thou once didst prove
So humble to efteem, so good to love)
Not that thy spirit might on me doubled be,
I ask but half thy mighty spirit for me :
And, when my Muse foars with so strong a wing,
'Twill learn of things divine, and first of thee, to fing.
SOME COPIES OF VERSES, TRANSLATED PARAPHRASTICALLY OUT OF
LOV E.
"LL fing of heroes and of kings,
I In mighty numbers, mighty things.
Begin, my Mufe! but lo! the strings
To my great fong rebellious prove ;
The ftrings will found of nought but love,
I broke them all, and put on new ;
'Tis this or nothing fure will do.
These fure (faid I) will me obey;
These, fure, heroick notes will play.
Strait I began with thundering Jove,
And all th' immortal powers; but Love,
Love fmil'd, and from my' enfeebled lyre
Came gentle airs, fuch as inspire
Melting love and foft defire.
Farewell then, heroes! farewell, kings!
And mighty numbers, mighty things!
Love tunes my heart just to my strings.
HE thirsty earth foaks up the rain,
And drinks, and gapes for drink again.
The plants fuck-in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair;
The fea itself (which one would think
Should have but little need of drink)
Drinks ten thousand rivers up,
So fill'd that they o'erflow the cup.
The bufy fun (and one would guess
By 's drunken fiery face no less)
Drinks up the fea, and, when he 'as done,
The moon and stars drink up the fun :
They drink and dance by their own light;
They drink and revel all the night.
Nothing in nature 's fober found,
But an eternal health goes round.
Fill up the bowl then, fill it high,
Fill all the glaffes there; for why
Should every creature drink but I;
Why, man of morals, tell me why?
IBERAL Nature did difpenfe
To all things arms for their defence ;
And fome the arms with finewy force,
And fome with swiftnefs in the course;
Some with hard hoofs or forked claws,
And fome with horns or tufked jaws :
And fome with fçales, and fome with wings,
And fome with teeth, and fome with ftings.
Wifdom to man fhe did afford,
Wisdom for fhield, and wit for fword.
What to beauteous womankind,
What arms, what armour, has she' affign'd?
Beauty is both; for with the fair
What arms, what armour, can compare?
What steel, what gold, or diamond,
More impaffible is found?
And yet what flame, what lightning, e'er
So great an active force did bear ?
They are all weapon, and they dart
Like porcupines from every part.
Who can, alas! their ftrength exprefs,
Arm'd, when they themselves undress,
Cap-a-pe with nakedness ?
ES, I will love then, I will love ;
I will not now Love's rebel prove,
Though I was once his enemy;
Though ill-advis'd and ftubborn I,
Did to the combat him defy.
An helmet, fpear, and mighty shield,
Like fome new Ajax, I did wield.
Love in one hand his bow did take,
In th' other hand a dart did shake;
But yet in vain the dart did throw,
In vain he often drew the bow ;
So well my armour did refift,
So oft by flight the blow I mift:
But, when I thought all danger paft,
His quiver empty'd quite at laft,
Instead of arrow or of dart
He shot himself into my heart.
The living and the killing arrow
Ran through the skin, the flesh, the blood,
And broke the bones, and fcorch'd the marrow,
No trench or work of life withstood.
In vain I now the walls maintain;
I fet out guards and scouts in vain ;
Since th' enemy does within remain.
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