Thrice happy Phoenix! heaven's peculiar care Has made thyfelf thyfelf's furviving heir; By death thy deathlefs vigour is fupply'd, Which finks to ruin all the world befide; Thy age, not thee, affifting Phoebus burns, And vital flames light up thy funeral urns. Whate'er events have been, thy eyes furvey, And thou art fixt, while ages roll away; Thou faw'ft when raging ocean burst his bed, O'er-top'd the mountains, and the earth o'er-spread ; When the rafh youth inflam'd the high abodes, Scorch'd up the skies, and scar'd the deathless gods. When nature ceafes, thou fhalt ftill remain, Nor fecond Chaos bound thy endless reign; Fate's tyrant laws thy happier lot fhall brave, Bafile deftruction, and elude the grave.
VERSES TO MRS. LOWTHER
ON HER MARRIAGE.
THE greateft fwain that treads th' Arcadian grove,
Our fhepherds envy, and our virgins love,
His charming nymph, his fofter fair obtains,
The bright Diana of our flowery plains;
He, 'midst the graceful, of fuperior grace,
And he the lovelieft of the lovelieft race.
Thy fruitful influence, guardian Juno, fhed,
And crown the pleasures of the genial bed :
Raise thence, their future joy, a smiling heir,
Brave as the father, as the mother fair.
Well may'ft thou shower thy choicest gifts on those,
Who boldly rival thy moft hated foes;
The vigorous bridegroom with Alcides vies,
And the fair bride has Cytherea's eyes.
WITH A PRESENT OF FLOWERS.
HE fragrant painting of our flowery fields, The choiceft ftores that youthful fummer yields, Strephon to fair Elifa hath convey'd,
The sweetest garland to the sweetest maid.
O cheer the flowers, my fair, and let them reft
On the Elyfium of thy fnowy breaft,
And there regale the fmell, and charm the view,
With richer odours, and a lovelier hue.
Learn hence, nor fear a flatterer in the flower,
Thy form divine, and beauty's matchless power:
Faint, near thy cheeks, the bright carnation glows,
And thy ripe lips out-blush the opening rofe:
The lily's fnow betrays lefs pure a light,
Loft in thy bofom's more unsullied white;
And wreaths of jafmine fhed perfumes, beneath
Th' ambrofial incenfe of thy balmy breath.
Ten thousand beauties grace the rival pair,
How fair the chaplet, and the nymph how fair!
But ah! too foon thefe fleeting charms decay,
The fading luftre of one hastening day.
This night shall see the gaudy wreath decline,
The rofes wither, and the lilies pine.
The garlands fate to thine shall be apply'd,
And what advance thy form, fhall check thy pride:
Be wife, my fair, the prefent hour improve,
Let joy be now, and now a waste of love;
Each drooping bloom shall plead thy just excuse,
And that which fhew'd thy beauty, fhew its ufe.
ON A LADY'S PICTURE:
TO GILFRED LAWSON, ESQ;
S Damon Chloe's painted form furvey'd,
He figh'd, and languish'd for the jilting shade:
For Cupid taught the artist hand its grace,
And Venus wanton'd in the mimic face.
Now he laments a lock fo falfely fair,
And almoft damns, what yet resembles her;
Now he devours it, with his longing eyes;
Now fated, from the lovely phantom flies,
Yet burns to look again, yet looks again, and dies.
Her ivory neck his lips prefume to kifs,
And his bold hands the fwelling bofom prefs;
The fwain drinks-in deep draughts of vain defire,
Melts without heat, and burns in faucy'd fire.
Strange power of paint! thou nice creator art!
What love infpires, may life itself impart.
Struck with like wounds, of old, Pygmalion pray'd,
And bugg'd to life his artificial maid ;
Clafp, new Pygmalion, clafp the feeming charms,
Perhaps ev'n now th' enlivening image warms,
Deftin'd to crown thy joys, and revel in thy arms :
Thy arms, which shall with fire fo fierce invade,
That the at once fhall be, and cease to be a maid.
PART OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF LUCAN
Cæfar, having refolved to give battle to Petreius and Afranius, Pompey's lieutenants in Spain, encamped near the enemy in the fame field. The behaviour of
their foldiers, at their feeing and knowing one another, is the fubject of the following verfes.
"HEIR ancient friends, as now they nearer drew,
Prepar'd for fight the wondering foldiers knew;
Brother, with brother in unnatural ftrife,
And the fon arm'd against the father's life:
Curft civil war then confcience firft was felt,
And the tough veteran's heart began to melt
Fix'd in dumb forrow all at once they ftand,
Then wave, a pledge of peace, the guiltless hand;
To vent ten thousand fruggling paffions move,
The ftings of nature, and the pangs of love.
All order broken, wide their arms they throw,
And run, with tranfport, to the longing foe:
Here the long-loft acquaintance neighbours claim,
There an old friend recalls his comrade's name,
Youths, who in arts beneath one tutor grew,
Rome rent in twain, and kindred hosts they view.
Tears wet their impious arms, a fond relief,
And kiffes, broke by fobs, the words of grief;
Though yet no blood was fpilt, each anxious mind
With horror thinks on what his rage defign'd.
Ah! generous youths, why thus, with fruitless pain,
Beat ye those breasts? why gush those eyes in vain ?
Why blame ye heaven, and charge your guilt on fate?
Why dread the tyrant, whom yourselves make great?
Bids he the trumpet found? the trumpet flight.
Bids he the standards move? refuse the fight.
Your generals, left by you, will love again
A fon and father, when they're private men.
Kind Concord, heavenly born! whofe Elifsful reign
Holds this vaft globe in one furrounding chain,
Whofe laws the jarring clements control,
And knit each atom clofe from pole to pole;
Soul of the world! and love's eternal fpring!
This lucky hour, thy aid fair goddess bring!
This lucky hour, ere aggravated crimes
Heap guilt on guilt, and doubly ftain the times.
No veil henceforth for fin, for pardon none;
They know their duty, now their friends are known. Vain wish! from blood fort muft the refpite be, New crimes, by love inhanc'd, this night fhall fee: Such is the will of fate, and fuch the hard decree.
'Twas peace. From either camp, now void of fear, The foldiers mingling chearful feafts prepare:
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