Twitch'd Damon gently by the cloke,
And thus, unwilling, silence broke ;

66

Damon, 'tis time we should retire :

The man you talk with is Mat Prior.

Patron thro' life, and from thy birth my friend, Dorset to thee this fable let me send:

With Damon's lightness weigh thy solid worth:
The foil is known to set the diamond forth:
Let the feign'd tale this real moral give,
How many Damons, how few Dorsets, live!

THE FEMALE PHAETON.

THUS Kitty,* beautiful and young,
And wild as colt untam'd,

Bespoke the fair from whence she sprung,
inflam'd:

With little rage

Inflam'd with rage at sad restraint,
Which wise mamma ordain'd;
And sorely vext to play the saint,
Whilst wit and beauty reign'd:

"Shall I thumb holy books, confin'd
With Abigails, forsaken?

*

Lady Catharine Hyde, late Duchess of Queensberry.

Kitty's for other things design'd,
Or I am much mistaken.

"Must Lady Jenny frisk about,
And visit with her cousins?

At balls must she make all the rout,
And bring home hearts by dozens?

"What has she better, pray, than I,
What hidden charms to boast,
That all mankind for her should die ;
Whilst I am scarce a toast?

"Dearest mamma! for once let me,
Unchain'd, my fortune try;
I'll have my earl as well as she,*
Or know the reason why.

"I'll soon with Jenny's pride quit score,

Make all her lovers fall:

They'll grieve I was not loos'd before;
She, I was loos'd at all."

Fondness prevail'd, mamma gave way;

Kitty, at heart's desire, Obtain'd the chariot for a day,

And set the world on fire.

* The Earl of Essex married Lady Jane Hyde.

THE JUDGMENT OF VENUS.

WHEN Kneller's works of various grace

Were to fair Venus shown;

The goddess spied in every face
Some features of her own.

Just so! (and pointing with her hand)

So shone, says she, my eyes

*

When from two goddesses I gain'd
An apple for a prize.

When in the glass, and river too,
My face I lately view'd,

Such was I, if the glass be true,
If true the crystal flood.

In colours of this glorious kind †
Apelles painted me;

My hair thus flowing with the wind,
Sprung from my native sea.

Like this, disorder'd, wild, forlorn,
Big with ten thousand fears,
Thee, my Adonis, did I mourn,

Ev'n beautiful in tears.

* Lady Ranelagh.

+ Lady Salisbury.

Lady Jane, sister to the Duke of Douglas; afterwards

married to Sir John Stewart.

But, viewing Myra plac'd apart,
I fear, says she, I fear,
Apelles, that Sir Godfrey's art
Has far surpass'd thine here.

Or I, a goddess of the skies,
By Myra am outdone,

And must resign to her the prize,

The apple, which I won.

But, soon as she had Myra seen,
Majestically fair,

The sparkling eye, the look serene,

gay easy air;

With fiery emulation fill'd,

The wondering goddess cried,
Apelles must to Kneller yield,
Or Venus must to Hyde.

DAPHNE AND APOLLO:

IMITATED, FROM THE FIRST BOOK OF OVID'S

METAMORPHOSES.

Nympha, precor, Penei, mane."

APOLLO.

ABATE, fair fugitive, abate thy speed,

Dismiss thy fears, and turn thy beauteous head;

With kind regard a panting lover view;

Less swiftly fly, less swiftly I'll pursue :
Pathless, alas! and rugged is the ground,
Some stone may hurt thee, or some thorn may
wound.

DAPHNE. (Aside.)

This care is for himself, as sure as death!
One mile has put the fellow out of breath;
He'll never do, I'll lead him t'other round;
Washy he is, perhaps not over sound.

APOLLO.

You fly, alas! not knowing whom you fly;
Nor ill-bred swain, nor rusty clown, am I:
I Claros isle and Tenedos command-

DAPHNE.

Thank you I would not leave my native land.

APOLLO.

What is to come, by certain arts I know.

DAPHNE.

Pish! Partridge* has as fair pretence as you.

That may be counterfeit, a Spanish wig.
Who cares for all that bush of curling hair,
Whilst your smooth chin is so extremely bare?

I sing

APOLLO.

* An almanack maker and astrologer at the beginning of the present (eighteenth) century. See Swift's Miscellanies.