With fecret joy I heard her fay,
That she would never miss one day
A walk fo fine, a fight so gay.
But, oh the change! the winds grow high;
Impending tempefts charge the sky;
The lightning flies; the thunder roars;
And big waves lash the frighten'd shores.
Struck with the horror of the fight,
She turns her head, and wings her flight;
And trembling vows, fhe 'll ne'er again
Approach the fhore, or view the main.
Once more at least look back, faid I;
Thyfelf in that large glass defcry:
When thou art in good-humour dreft;
When gentle reafon rules thy breast;
The fun upon the calmest sea
Appears not half fo bright as thee:
'Tis then, that with delight I rove
Upon the boundlefs depth of love:
I blefs my chain; I hand my oar;
Nor think on all I left on shore.
But when vain doubt, and groundless fear
Do that dear foolish bofom tear;
When the big lip, and wat'ry eye
Tell me, the rifing storm is nigh;
"Tis then, thou art yon' angry main,
Deform'd by winds, and dafh'd by rain;
And the poor failor, that must try
It's fury, labours less than I,
Shipwreck'd, in vain to land I make ;
While Love and Fate ftill drive me back :
Forc'd to doat on thee thy own way,
I chide thee first, and then obey.
Wretched when from thee, vex'd when nigh,
I with thee, or without thee, die.
WHILE from the skies the ruddy fun defcends;
And rifing night the ev'ning fhade extends:
While pearly dews o'erfpread the fruitful field;
And clofing flowers reviving odours yield:
Let us, beneath these spreading trees, recite
What from our hearts our Mufes may indite.
Nor need we, in this clofe retirement, fear,
Left any
fwain our am'rous fecrets hear.
* Afterwards the celebrated Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe. It is faid Mr. Prior once made his addreffes to this lady.
To ev'ry fhepherd I would mine proclaim; Since fair Aminta is my fofteft theme:
A ftranger to the loose delights of love,
My thoughts the nobler warmth of friendship prove:
And, while it's pure and facred fire I fing,
Chafte goddess of the groves, thy fuccour bring.
Propitious God of Love, my breast inspire
With all thy charms, with all thy pleafing fire:
Propitious God of Love, thy fuccour bring;
Whilft I thy darling, thy Alexis fing.
Alexis, as the opening bloffoms fair,
Lovely as light, and soft as yielding air.
For him each virgin fighs; and on the plains
The happy youth above each rival reigns.
Nor to the ecchoing groves, and whifp'ring fpring,
In fweeter ftrains does artful Conon fing;
When loud applaufes fill the crouded groves;
And Phoebus the superior song approves.
Beauteous Aminta is as early light,
Breaking the melancholy fhades of night.
When fhe is near, all anxious trouble flies;
And our reviving hearts confefs her eyes.
Young love, and blooming joy, and gay defires,
In ev'ry breaft the beauteous nymph inspires:
And on the plain when she no more appears,
The plain a dark and gloomy profpect wears.
In vain the streams roll on: the eastern breeze
Dances in vain among the trembling trees.
In vain the birds begin their ev'ning fong,
And to the filent night their notes prolong :
Nor groves, nor chrystal streams, nor verdant field
Does wonted pleasure in her absence yield.
And in his abfence, all the penfive day,
In fome obfcure retreat I lonely stray;
All day to the repeating caves complain,
In mournful accents, and a dying ftrain.
Dear lovely youth, I cry to all around:
Dear lovely youth, the flattering vales refound.
On flow'ry banks, by ev'ry murm'ring ftream, Aminta is my Mufe's fofteft theme:
"Tis she that does my artful notes refine :
With fair Aminta's name my noblest verse fhall fhine.
I'll twine fresh garlands for Alexis' brows,
And confecrate to him eternal vows:
The charming youth fhall my Apollo prove :
He shall adorn my songs, and tune my voice to love,
By Silvia if thy charming self be meant ;
If friendship be thy virgin vows extent;
O! let me in Aminta's praises join:
Her's my esteem shall be, my paffion thine.
When for thy head the garland I prepare ;
A fecond Wreath fhall bind Aminta's hair:
And when my choiceft fongs thy worth proclaim;
Alternate verse shall bless Aminta's name;
My heart fhall own the juftice of her cause;
And Love himself submit to Friendship's laws.
But, if beneath thy numbers foft disguise,
Some favour'd fwain, fome true Alexis lyes;
If Amaryllis breaths thy fecret pains ;
And thy fond heart beats measure to thy ftrains,
May'st thou, howe'er I grieve, for ever find
The flame propitious, and the lover kind:
May Venus long exert her happy pow'r,
And make thy beauty, like thy verfe, endure;
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