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MEN. Thou fing with him, thou booby! never pipe Was fo prophan'd to touch that blubber'd lip: Dunce at the beft; in ftreets but scarce allow'd To tickle, on thy ftraw, the ftupid crowd.

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DAM. To bring it to the trial, will you dare Our pipes, our fkill, our voices, to compare? My brinded heifer to the stake I lay; Two thriving calves fhe fuckles twice a day : And twice befides her beaftings never fail To ftore the dairy with a brimming pail. Now back your finging with an equal stake. MEN. That fhould be feen, if I had one to make. 45 You know too well. I feed my father's flock: What can I wager from the common stock? A ftepdame too I have, a curfed the, Who rules my hen-peck'd fire, and orders me. Both number twice a-day the milky dams; At once he takes the tale of all the lambs. But fince you will be mad, and fince you may Sufpect my courage, if I should not lay,

The pawn I proffer shall be full as good:

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Two bowls I have, well turn'd, of beechen wood; 55 Both by divine Alcimedon were made;

To neither of them yet the lip is laid;

The ivy's ftem, its fruit, its foliage, lurk
In various fhapes around the curious work.
Two figures on the fides emboss'd appear;
Conon, and, what's his name who made the sphere,
And fhew'd the feafons of the fliding year,

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In

Inftructed in his trade the labouring swain,

And when to reap, and when to fow the grain?

DAM. And I have two, to match your pair, at

home;

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The wood the fame, from the fame hand they come :
The kimbo handles feem with bears-foot carv'd;
And never yet to table have been ferv'd:
Where Orpheus on his lyre laments his love, ·
With beasts encompass'd, and a dancing grove :
But these, nor all the proffers you can make,
Are worth the heifer which I fet to stake.

MEN. No more delays, vain boaster, but begin:
I prophefy before-hand I fhall win.

Palamon fhall be judge how ill you rhime:
I'll teach you how to brag another time.

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DAM. Rhymer, come on, and do the worst you can:

I fear not you, nor yet a better man.

With filence, neighbour, and attention wait:

For 'tis a business of a high debate.

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PAL. Sing then; the fħade affords a proper place; The trees are cloath'd with leaves, the fields with grafs; The bloffoms blow; the birds on bushes fing;

And nature has accomplish'd all the spring.
The challenge to Damætas shall belong,
Mænalcas fhall fuftain his under-fong:
Each in his turn your tuneful numbers bring;
By turns the tuneful Mufes love to fing.

DAM. From the great Father of the gods above
My Mufe begins; for all is full of Jove;

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To Jove the care of heaven and earth belongs;
My flocks he blesses, and he loves my songs.

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MEN. Me Phœbus loves; for he my Mufe infpires;
And in her fongs, the warmth he gave, requires.
For him the god of shepherds and their sheep,
My blushing hyacinths and my bays I keep.
DAM. My Phyllis me with pelted apples plies,
Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies:
And wishes to be seen, before fhe flies.

MEN. But fair Amyntas comes unafk'd to me,
And offers love; and fits upon my knee :
Not Delia to my dogs is known fo well as he.

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DAM. To the dear mistress of my love-fick mind, Her fwain a pretty present has defign'd:

I saw two stock-doves billing, and ere long
Will take the neft, and hers fhall be the young.

MEN. Ten ruddy wildings in the wood I found,
And stood on tip-toes, reaching from the ground;
I fent Amyntas all my present store;
And will, to-morrow, fend as many more.

DAM. The lovely maid lay panting in my arms;
And all the faid and did was full of charms.
Winds, on your wings to heaven her accents bear!
Such words as heaven alone is fit to hear.

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MEN. Ah! what avails it me, my love's delight, 115 To call you mine, when absent from my fight! I hold the nets, while you purfue the prey; And must not share the dangers of the day.

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DAM. I keep my birth-day: send my Phyllis home; At fhearing-time, Iolas, you may come.

MEN. With Phyllis I am more in grace than you:
Her forrow did my parting fteps pursue :
Adieu, my dear, fhe faid, a long adieu !

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DAM. The nightly wolf is baneful to the fold, Storms to the wheat, to buds the bitter cold; But from my frowning fair, more ills I find Than from the wolves, and ftorms, and winter-wind. MEN. The kids with pleasure browse the bushy plain, The showers are grateful to the fwelling grain: To teeming ewes the fallow's tender tree; But more than all the world my love to me.

DAM. Pollio my rural verfe vouchfafes to read:

A heifer, Mufes, for your patron breed.

MEN. My Pollio writes himself; a bull be bred With fpurning heels, and with a butting head.

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DAM. Who Pollio loves, and who his Mufe ad

mires,

Let Pollio's fortune crown his full defires.

Let myrrh inftead of thorn his fences fill;

And showers of honey from his oaks distil.

MEN. Who hates not living Bavius, let him be 140 (Dead Mævius) damn'd to love thy works and thee: The fame ill tafte of fenfe would ferve to join Dog-foxes in the yoke, and fhear the fwine.

DAM. Ye boys who pluck the flowers, and spoil the fpring,

Beware the fecret fnake that fhoots a fting.

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MEN. Graze not too near the banks, my jolly sheep, The ground is falfe, the running ftreams are deep:

See,

See, they have caught the father of the flock,

Who dries his fleece upon the neighbouring rock. DAM. From rivers drive the kids, and fling your

hook;

Anon I'll wash them in the fhallow brook.

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MEN. To fold, my flock; when milk is dry'd with heat,

In vain the milk-maid tugs an empty teat.

DAM. How lank my bulls from plenteous pasture

come!

But love, that drains the herd, destroys the groom. 155

MEN. My flocks are free from love; yet look fo thin,

Their bones are barely cover'd with their skin.

What magic has bewitch'd the wooly dams,
And what ill eyes beheld the tender lambs ?

DAM. Say, where the round of heaven which all

contains,

To three fhort ells on earth our fight restrains :
Tell that, and rise a Phœbus for thy pains.

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MEN. Nay, tell me first, in what new region

fprings

A flower that bears infcrib'd the names of kings:
And thou shalt gain a prefent as divine

As Phœbus' self; for Phyllis shall be thine.

PAL. So nice a difference in your finging lies, That both have won, or both deferv'd, the prize.

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