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THE PROGRESS OF LOVE.

IN FOUR ECLOGUES.

I. UNCERTAINTY.

To Mr. Pop E.

II. HOPE. To the Hon. GEORGE DODDINGTON. HI. JEALOUSY. To EDWARD WALPOLE, Efq; IV. POSSESSION. To the Right Hon. the Lord Viscount COBHAM.

UNCERTAINTY. ECLOGUE I. To Mr. POPE.

POPE, to whofe reed beneath the beachen shade,

The Nymphs of Thames a pleas'd attention paid; While yet thy Mufe, content with humbler praife, Warbled in Windfor's grove her fylvan lays; Though now, fublimely borne on Homer's wing, Of glorious wars and godlike chiefs the fing: Wilt thou with me revifit once again The crystal fountain, and the flowery plain? Wilt thou, indulgent, hear my verfe relate The various changes of a lover's state; And, while each turn of paffion I purfue, Afk thy own heart if what I tell be true?

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To the green margin of a lonely wood,
Whofe pendent fhades o'erlook'd a filver flood,
Young Damon came, unknowing where he stray'd,
Full of the image of his beauteous maid:

His flock, far off, unfed, untended, lay,
To every favage a defenceleís prey;

No fenfe of intereft could their mafter move,
And every care feem'd trifling now but love.
A while in penfive filence he remain'd,

But, though his voice was mute, his looks complain'd;
At length the thoughts within his bofom pent
Forc'd his unwilling tongue to give them vent.
"Ye nymphs, he cried, ye Dryads, who fo long
"Have favor'd Damon, and infpir'd his fong;

"For whom, retir'd, I fhun the reforts

gay

"Of fportful cities, and of pompous courts; "In vain I bid the restlefs world adieu,

"To feek tranquillity and

peace

with you.

"Though wild Ambition, and destructive Rage, "No factions here can form, no wars can wage: "Though Envy frowns not on your humble fhades,

"Nor Calumny your innocence invades :

"Yet cruel Love, that troubler of the breaft,

"Too often violates your boafted reft.;

"With inbred ftorms difturbs your calm retreat,

"And taints with bitternefs each rural fweet.

"Ah lucklefs day! when firft with fond furprize "On Delia's face I fix'd my eager eyes!

Then in wild tumults all my foul was toft,
Then renfon, liberty, at once were loft:

"And

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