With pains of love tormented lies;
Or if the chance to close her eyes,
Of Bridewell and the Compter dreams,
And feels the lafh, and faintly fcreams;
Or, by a faithless bully drawn,
At fome hedge-tavern lies in pawn;
Or, to Jamaica feems transported
Alone, and by no planter courted;
Or, near Fleet-ditch's oozy brinks,
Surrounded with a hundred ftinks,
Be-lated, feems on watch to lie,
And fnap fome cully paffing by ;
Or, ftruck with fear, her fancy runs
On watchmen, conftables, and duns,
From whom the mects with frequent rubs;
But never from religious clubs;
Whole favour fhe is fure to find,
Because the pays them all in kind.

Corinna wakes. A dreadful fight! Echold the ruins of the night! A wicked rat her plafter ftole, Half eat, and dragg'd it to his hole. The cryftal eye, alas! was mifs'd; And pufs had on her plumpers p-fs'd.

Et longam incomitata videtur

Ire viam

7

-Virg.

A pigeon

A pigeon pick'd her iffue peas :

And Shock her treffes fill'd with fleas.

The nymph, though in this mangled
plight,

Muft ev'ry morn her limbs unite.
But how fhall I defcribe her arts
To recollect the fcatter'd parts?
Or fhew the anguish, toil, and pain,
Of gath'ring up herself again?
The bafhful mufe will never bear
In fuch a scene to interfere.
Corinna in the morning dizen'd,

Who fees will fpew; who fmells be poifon'd.

*STREPHON and

CHLOE.

Written in the Year 1731.

F Chloe all the town has rung,
By ev'ry fize of poets fung

OF

This poem has among others been cenfured for indelicacy, but with no better reafon than a medicine would be rejected for its ill tafte. By attending to the marriage of Strephon and Chloe, the reader is neceffarily led to confider the effect of that grofs familiarity in which it is to be feared many married perfons think

they have a right to indulge themfelves: he who is difgufted at the picture feels the force of the precept, not to difguft another by his practice; and let it never be forgotten, that nothing quenches defire like indelicacy, and that when defire has been thus quenched, kindnefs will inevitably grow cold.

So

So beautiful a nymph appears
But once in twenty thousand years;
By nature form'd with niceft care,
And faultlefs to a fingle hair.

Her graceful mien, her fhape, and face,
Confefs'd her of no mortal race:

And then fo nice, and fo genteel;
Such cleanlinefs from head to heel:
No humours grofs, or frowzy fteams,
No noisome whiffs, or fweaty ftreams,
Before, behind, above, below,
Could from her taintlefs body flow:
Would fo difcreetly things difpofe,
None ever faw her pluck a rose.
Her dearest comrades never caught her
Squat on her hams to make maids water.
You'd fwear that fo divine a creature
Felt no neceffities of nature.

In fummer, had fhe walk'd the town,
Her arm-pits would not ftain her gown:
At country-dances not a nofe

Could in the dog-days fmell her toes. Hermilk-white hand, both palms and backs Like iv'ry dry, and foft as wax.

Her hands, the fofteft ever felt,

Though cold would burn, though dry

would melt.

*Though deep, yet clear, etc. DENHAM.

Dear

Dear Venus, hide this wond'rous maid, Nor let her loose to spoil your trade. While fhe engroffes ev'ry fwain,

You but o'er half the world can reign. Think what a cafe all men are now in, What ogling, fighing, toafting, vowing! What powder'd wigs! what flames and darts!

What hampers full of bleeding hearts! What fword-knots! what poetic ftrains! What billet-doux, and clouded canes !

But Strephon figh'd fo loud and ftrong, He blew a fettlement along: And bravely drove his rivals down With coach and fix, and house in town. The bashful nymph no more withstands, Because her dear papa commands. The charming couple now unites : Proceed we to the marriage-rites.

Imprimis, at the temple-porch
Stood Hymen with a flaming torch :
The fmiling Cyprian goddess brings
Her infant loves with purple wings;
And pigeons billing, fparrows treading,
Fair emblems of a fruitful wedding.

The

The mufes next in order follow,
Conducted by their squire, Apollo:
Then Mercury, with filver tongue,
And Hebe, goddess ever young.
Behold the bridegroom and his bride
Walk hand in hand, and fide by fide;
She by the tender Graces dreft,
But he by Mars, in fcarlet veft.
The nymph was cover'd with her * flam-

meum,

And Phœbus fung th'†epithalamium.
And laft, to make the matter fure,
Dame Juno brought a prieft demure.
Luna was abfent, on pretence

Her time was not till nine months hence.

The rites perform'd, the parson paid, In ftate return'd the grand parade; With loud huzza's from all the boys, That now the pair must crown their joys.

But ftill the hardest part remains. Strephon had long perplex'd his brains, How with fo high a nymph he might Demean himself the wedding-night :

A veil which the Roman A mariage fong. brides cover'd themselves Diana, goddess of midwith when they were going wives. to be married.

For,