LXXXVIII

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

IN vain does Hymen, with religious vows
Oblige his slaves to wear his chains with ease;
A privilege alone that Love allows,

'Tis Love alone can make our fetters please.

The angry tyrant lays his yoke on all,

Yet in his fiercest rage is charming still;
Officious Hymen comes whene'er we call,
But haughty Love comes only when he will.

LXXXIX

APHRA BEHN.

THE SIEGE

'Tis now, since I sat down before

That foolish fort, a heart,

(Time strangely spent!) a year and more,

And still I did my part:

Made my approaches, from her hand

Unto her lip did rise;

And did already understand

The language of her eyes:

Proceeded on with no less art,

(My tongue was engineer ;) I thought to undermine the heart By whispering in the ear.

When this did nothing, I brought down
Great cannon-oaths, and shot
A thousand thousand to the town,
And still it yielded not.

I then resolv'd to starve the place,
By cutting off all kisses,
Praising and gazing on her face,
And all such little blisses.

To draw her out and from her strength,

I drew all batteries in ;

And brought myself to lie, at length,
As if no siege had been.

When I had done what man could do, And thought the place mine own,

The enemy lay quiet too,

And smil'd at all was done.

I sent to know from whence, and where

A

These hopes and this relief?

spy inform'd, Honour was there,

And did command in chief.

"March, march," quoth I; "the word straight give,

Let's lose no time, but leave her;

That giant upon air will live,

And hold it out for ever."

XC

SIR J. SUCKLING.

THE OLD MAN'S WISH

IF I live to grow old, for I find I go down,
Let this be my fate: in a country town,
May I have a warm house, with a stone at the gate,
And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate.

May I govern my passion with an absolute sway,
And grow wiser and better as my strength wears

away,

Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.

Near a shady grove, and a murmuring brook,

With the ocean at distance, whereon I

may look, With a spacious plain without hedge or stile,

And an easy pad-nag to ride out a mile.

May I govern, etc.

With Plutarch and Horace, and one or two more
Of the best wits that lived in the ages before;
With a dish of roast mutton, not ven'son or teal,
And clean, though coarse linen, at every meal.
May I govern, etc.

With a pudding on Sunday, with stout humming liquor,
And remnants of Latin to puzzle the Vicar;

With a hidden reserve of Burgundy wine,
To drink the king's health as oft as I dine.
May I govern, etc.

I hope I shall have no occasion to send

For priests or physicians, till I'm so near my end, That I have eat all my bread and drank my last glass, Let them come then and set their seals to my pass. May I govern, etc.

With courage undaunted may I face my last day,
And when I am dead may the better sort say,-

In the morning when sober, in the evening when mellow,
He's gone, and has left not behind him his fellow;

For he governed his passion with an absolute sway,
And grew wiser and better as his strength wore

away,

Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.

DR. W. POPE.

XCI

THE BAG OF THE BEE

ABOUT the sweet bag of a bee,
Two Cupids fell at odds;

And whose the pretty prize should be
They vow'd to ask the gods.

Which Venus hearing, thither came,
And for their boldness stript them;
And taking thence from each his flame,
With rods of myrtle whipt them.

Which done, to still their wanton cries,
When quiet grown she had seen them,
She kiss'd and wip'd their dove-like eyes,
And gave the bag between them.

R. HERRICK.

XCII

AGAINST PLEASURE

THERE'S no such thing as pleasure here, 'Tis all a perfect cheat,

Which does but shine and disappear,

Whose charm is but deceit ;