Deucalion, to restore Mankind
Was bid to throw the Stones behind;
So, those who here their Gifts convey,
Are forc'd to look another Way:
For, few, a chofen few, must know,
The Mysteries that lye below.
SAD Charnel-house! a difmal Dome, For which all Mortals leave their Home; The Young, the Beautiful, and Brave, Here bury'd in one common Grave, Where each Supply of Dead renews Unwholesome Damps, offenfive Dews: And lo! the Writing on the Walls Points out where each new Victim falls; The Food of Worms, and Beasts obscene, Who round the Vault luxuriant reign.
SEE where thofe mangled Corpfes lye, Condemn'd by Female Hands to dye; A comely Dame once clad in white, Lyes there confing'd to endless Night; By cruel Hands her Blood was spilt, And yet her Wealth was all her Guilt.
AND here fix Virgins in a Tomb, All beauteous Offspring of one Womb, Oft in the Train of Venus seen,
As fair and lovely as their Queen :
In Royal Garments each was drest,
Each with a Gold and Purple Veft;
I saw them of their Garments ftript,
Their Throats were cut, their Bellies ript,
Twice were they bury'd, twice were born,
Twice from their Sepulchres were torn;
But, now dismember'd, here are caft,
And find a refting Place at last.
HERE, oft the curious Trav'ler finds,
The Combat of oppofing Winds:
And feeks to learn the fecret Cause,
Which alien feems from Nature's Laws:
Why at this Cave's tremendous Mouth,
He feels at once both North and South:
Whether the Winds in Caverns pent
Through Clifts oppugnant force a Vent;
Or, whether, op'ning all his Stores,
Fierce Eolus in Tempefts roars.
YET, from this mingled Mafs of Things,
In Time a new Creation fprings.
These crude Materials once shall rife,
To fill the Earth, and Air, and Skies:
In various Forms appear agen
Of Vegetables, Brutes, and Men,
So Jove pronounc'd among the Gods,
Olympus trembling as he nods:
Written in the Year 1730.
H, Strephon, how can you despise
Her, who, without thy Pity, dies?
To Strephon I have still been true,
And of as noble Blood as you;
Fair Iffue of the genial Bed,
A Virgin in thy Bofom bred;
Embrac'd thee clofer than a Wife;
When thee I leave, I leave my Life.
Why fhould my Shepherd take amiss
That oft I wake thee with a Kifs?
Yet you of ev'ry Kifs complain;
Ah! is not Love a pleasing Pain?
A Pain which ev'ry happy Night
You cure with Eafe and with Delight;
With Pleasure, as the Poet fings,
Too great for Mortals less than Kings.
CHLOE, when on thy Breaft I lye, Obferves me with revengeful Eye:
If Chloe o'er thy Heart prevails,
She'll tear me with her defp'rate Nails;
And with relentless Hands deftroy
The tender Pledges of our Joy,
Nor have I bred a fpurious Race;
They all were born from thy Embrace.
CONSIDER, Strephon, what you
For, fhould I dye for Love of you,
I'll haunt thy Dreams, a bloodless Ghost;
And all my Kin, a num❜rous Host,
Who down direct our Lineage bring
From Victors o'er the Memphian King;
Renown'd in Sieges and Campaigns,
Who never fled the bloody Plains,
Who in tempestuous Seas can fport,
And scorn the Pleasures of a Court;
From whom great Sylla found his Doom;
Who fcourg'd to Death that Scourge of Rome,
Shall on thee take a Vengeance dire;
Thou, like Alcides, fhalt expire,
When his envenom'd Shirt he wore,
And Skin and Flesh in Pieces tore,
Nor less that Shirt, my Rival's Gift,
Cut from the Piece that made her Shift,
Shall in thy dearest Blood be dy'd,
And make thee tear thy tainted Hyde.
Written in the Year 1725.
Epriv'd of Root, and Branch, and Rind,
Yet Flow'rs I bear of ev'ry Kind;
And fuch is my prolifick Pow'r,
They bloom in less than half an Hour:
Yet Standers-by may plainly fee
They get no Nourishment from me,
My Head, with Giddinefs goes round;
And yet I firmly ftand my Ground:
All over naked I am feen,
And painted like an Indian Queen.
No Couple-Beggar in the Land
E'er join'd fuch Numbers Hand in Hand;
I join them fairly with a Ring;
Nor can our Parfon blame the Thing;
And tho' no Marriage Words are spoke,
They part not till the Ring is broke.
Yet hypocrite Fanaticks cry,
I'm but an Idol rais'd on high;
And once a Weaver in our Town,
A damn'd Cromwellian, knock'd me down.
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