Be bloody, false, flatter, forswear, and lie,
Turn pander, pathic, parasite, or spy;
Such thriving arts may your wish'd purpose bring,
A minister at least, perhaps a king.

Fortune, we most unjustly partial call,
A mistress free, who bids alike to all;
But on such terms as only suit the base,
Honour denies and shuns the foul embrace.
The honest man, who starves and is undone,
Not Fortune, but his virtue keeps him down.
Had Cato bent beneath the conquering cause,
He might have liv'd to give new senates laws;
But on vile terms disdaining to be great,
He perish'd by his choice, and not his fate.
Honours and life, th' usurper bids, and all
That vain mistaken men good-fortune call,
Virtue forbids, and sets before his eyes

An honest death, which he accepts, and dies:
O glorious resolution! Noble pride!
More honour'd, than the tyrant liv'd, he dy'd;
More lov'd, more prais'd, more envy'd in his doom,
Than Cæsar trampling on the rights of Rome.
The virtuous nothing fear, but life with shame,
And death's a pleasant road that leads to fame.
On bones, and scraps of dogs, let me be fed,
My limbs uncover'd, and expos'd my head
To bleakest colds, a kennel be my bed.
This, and all other martyrdom for thee,
Seems glorious, all, thrice beauteous Honesty!
Judge me, ye powers! let Fortune tempt or frown,
I stand prepar'd, my honour is my own.

Ye great disturbers, who in endless noise,

In blood and rapine seek unnatural joys;
For what is all this bustle, but to shun

Those thoughts with which you dare not be alone?
As men in misery, opprest with care,
Seek in the rage of wine to drown despair.
Let others fight, and eat their bread in blood,
Regardless if the cause be bad or good ;
Or cringe in courts, depending on the nods
Of strutting pigmies who would pass for gods.
For me, unpractis'd in the courtiers school,
Who loathe a knave, and tremble at a fool;
Who honour generous Wycherley opprest,
Possest of little, worthy of the best,
Rich in himself, in virtue, that outshines
All but the fame of his immortal lines,
More than the wealthiest lord, who helps to drain
The famish'd land, and rolls in impious gain:
What can I hope in courts? Or how succeed?
Tigers and wolves shall in the ocean breed,
The whale and dolphin fatten on the mead,
And every element exchange its kind,
Ere thriving Honesty in courts we find.

Happy the man, of mortals happiest he,"
Whose quiet mind from vain desires is free;
Whom neither hopes deceive, nor fears torment,
But lives at peace, within himself content,
In thought, or act, accountable to none,
But to himself, and to the gods alone:
O sweetness of content! seraphic joy!
Which nothing wants, and nothing can destroy.
Where dwells this Peace, this freedom of the mind?
Where, but in shades remote from human kind;
In flowery vales, where nymphs and shepherds meet,
But never comes within the palace gate.
Farewel then cities, courts, and camps, farewel,
Welcome, ye groves, here let me ever dwell,

From cares, from business, and mankind remove,
All but the Muses, and inspiring Love:
How sweet the morn! How gentle is the night!
How calm the evening! And the day how bright!
From hence, as from a hill, I view below
The crowded world, a mighty wood in show,
Where several wanderers travel day and night,
By different paths, and none are in the right.

SONG.

LOVE is by Fancy led about

From hope to fear, from joy to doubt;
Whom we now an angel call,

Divinely grac'd in every feature,
Straight's a deform'd, a perjur'd creature ;

Love and hate are Fancy all. 'Tis but as Fancy shall present Objects of grief, or of content,

That the lover 's blest, or dies: Visions of mighty pain, or pleasure, Imagin'd want, imagin'd treasure, All in powerful Fancy lies.

BEAUTY AND LAW,

A POETICAL PLEADING.

King Charles II. having made a grant of the reversion of an office in the court of King's-Bench, to his son the duke of Grafton; the lord chief justice laying claim to it, as a perquisite legally belonging to his office, the cause came to be heard before the house of lords, between the dutchess, relict of the said duke, and the chiet justice.

>

THE princes sat: Beauty and Law contend;
The queen of Love will her own cause defend:
Secure she looks, as certain none can see
Such Beauty plead, and not her captive be.
What need of words with such cominanding eyes?
"Must I then speak? O Heav'ns!" the charmer cries;
"O barbarous clime! where Beauty borrows aid
From Eloquence, to charm, or to persuade!
Will discord never leave with envious care
To raise debate? But discord governs here.
To Juno, Pallas, wisdom, fame, and power,
Long since preferr'd, what trial needs there more
Confess'd to sight, three goddesses descend
On Ida's hill, and for a prize contend;
Nobly they bid, and lavishly pursue
A gift, that only could be Beauty's due:
Honours and wealth the generous judge denies,
And gives the triumph to the brightest eyes.
Such precedents are numberless, we draw
Our right from custom; custom is a law
As high as Heaven, as wide as seas or land;
As ancient as the world is our command.
Mars and Alcides would this plea allow :
Beauty was ever absolute till now.
It is enough that I pronounce it mine,
And, right or wrong, he should his claim resign -
Not bears nor tigers sure so savage are,
As these ill-manner'd monsters of the bar.

1

"Loud Rumour 1 has proclaim'd a nymph divine, Whose matchless form, to counterbalance mine, By dint of beauty shall extort your grace: Let her appear, this rival, face to face; Let eyes to eyes oppos'd this strife decide; Now, when I lighten, let her beams be try'd. Was 't a vain promise, and a gownman's lie? Or stands she here, unmark'd, when I am by? So Heav'n was mock'd, and once all Elys round Another Jupiter was said to sound; On brazen floors the royal actor tries To ape the thunder rattling in the skies; A brandish'd torch, with emulating blaze, Affects the forky lightning's pointed rays: Thus borne aloft, triumphantly he rode Through crowds of worshippers, and acts the god. The sire omnipotent prepares the brand, By Vulcan wrought, and arms his potent hand; Then flaming hurls it hissing from above, And in the vast abyss confounds the mimic Jove. Presumptuous wretch! with mortal art to dare Immortal power, and brave the thunderer!

66

Cassiope, preferring with disdain,

Her daughter to the Nereids, they complain;
The daughter, for the mother's guilty scorn,
Is doom'd to be devour'd; the mother 's borne
Above the clouds, where, by immortal light,
Revers'd she shines, expos'd to human sight,
And to a shameful posture is confin'd,
As an eternal terrour to mankind.
Did thus the gods such private nymphs respect?
What vengeance might the queen of Love expect?
"But grant such arbitrary pleas are vain,
Wav'd let them be; mere justice shall obtain.
Who to a husband justlier can succeed,
Than the soft partner of his nuptial bed;
Or to a father's right lay stronger claim,
Than the dear youth in whom survives his name?
Behold that youth, consider whence he springs,
And in his royal veins respect your kings:
Immortal Jove, upon a mortal she,

Begat his sire: Second from Jove is he.

Well did the father blindly fight your cause, Following the cry-of Liberty and Laws, If by those laws, for which he lost his life 2, You spoil, ungratefully, the son and wife.

"What need I more? 'Tis treason to dispute : The grant was royal; that decides the suit. Shall vuigar laws imperial power constrain? Kings, and the gods, can never act in vain." She finish'd here, the queen of every grace, Disdain vermilioning her heavenly face: Our hearts take fire, and all in tumult rise, And one wish sparkles in a thousand eyes. O! might some champion finish these debates! My sword shall end, what now my pen relates. Up rose the judge, on each side bending low, A crafty smile accompanies his bow; Ulysses like, a gentle pause he makes, Then, raising by degrees his voice, he speaks.

1 A report spread of a beautiful young lady, niece to the lord chief justice, who would appear at the bar of the house of lords, and eclipse the charins of the dutchess of Grafton: no such lady was seen there, nor perhaps ever in any part of the world.

2 The duke of Grafton, slain at the siege of Cork in Ireland, about the beginning of the Revolution. I

"In you, my lords, who judge; and all who hear, Methinks I read your wishes for the fair; Nor can I wonder, even I contend With inward pain, unwilling to offend; Unhappy! thus oblig'd to a defence, That may displease such heavenly excellence. Might we the laws on any terms abuse, So bright an influence were the best excuse; Let Niobe's 3 just fate, the vile disgrace Of the Propœtides' 4 polluted race; Let death, or shame, or lunacy surprize, Who dare to match the lustre of those eyes! Aloud the fairest of the sex complain Of captives lost, and loves invok'd in vain; At her appearance all their glory ends, And not a star, but sets, when she ascends.

"Where Love presides, still may she bear the But rigid Law has neither ears nor eyes: [prize; Charms, to which Mars and Hercules would bow, Minos and Rhadamanthus 5 disavow. Justice, by nothing bias'd, or inclin'd, Deaf to persuasion, to temptation blind, Determines without favour, and the laws O'erlook the parties, to decide the cause, What then avails it, that a beardless boy Took a rash fancy for a female toy? Th' insulted Argives, with a numerous host, Pursue revenge, and seek the Dardan coast; Though the gods built, and though the gods defend Those lofty towers, the hostile Greeks ascend; Nor leave they, till the town in ashes lies, And all the race of royal Priam dies: The queen of Paphos, 6 mixing in the fray, Rallies the troops, and urges on the day; In person, in the foremost ranks she stands, Provokes the charge, directs, assists, commands; Stern Diomed, advancing high in air, His lofty javelin strikes the heavenly fair; The vaulted skies with her loud shrieks resound, And high Olympus trembles at the wound. In causes just, would all the gods oppose, 'Twere honest to dispute; so Cato chose. Dismiss that plea, and what shall blood avail? If beauty is deny'd, shall birth prevail? Blood, and high deeds, in distant ages done, Are our forefather's merit, not our own. Might none a just possession be allow'd, But who could bring desert, or boast of blood, What numbers, even here, might be condemn'd, Strip'd, and despoil'd of all, revil'd, contemn'd? Take a just view, how many may remark, Who now's a peer, his grandsire was a clerk: Some few remain, ennobled by the sword In Gothic times: but now, to be my lord, Study the law, nor do these robes despise; Honour the gown, from whence your honours rise.

Those fam'd dictators, who subdu'd the globe,
Gave the precedence to the peaceful robe;
The mighty Julius, pleading at the bar,
Was greater, than when, thundering in the war,
He conquer'd nations: 'Tis of more renown
To save a chent, than to storm a town.

"How dear to Britain are her darling laws!
What blood has she not lavish'd in their cause!
Kings are like common slaves to slaughter led,
Or wander through the world to beg their bread.
When regal power aspires above the laws,
A private wrong becomes a public cause,'

He spoke. The nobles differ, and divide, Some join with Law, and some with Beauty side. Mordaunt, though once her slave, insults the fair, Whose fetters 'twas his pride, in youth, to wear : So Lucifer, revolting, brav'd the power Whom he was wont to worship and implore. Like impious is their rage, who have in chase A new Omnipotence in Grafton's face. But Rochester, undaunted, just, and wise, Asserts the goddess with the charming eyes; And O! may Beauty never want reward For thee, her noble chainpion, and her guard. Beauty triumphs, and Law submitting lies, The tyrant, tam'd, aloud for mercy cries; Conquest can never fail in radiant Grafton's eyes.

UNSEASONABLY SURPRIZED IN THE EMBRACES OF
HER LORD.

FAIREST Zelinda, cease to chide, or grieve;
Nor blush at joys that only you can give;
Who with bold eyes survey'd those matchless
Is punish'd, seeing in another's arms: [charins
With greedy looks he views each naked part,
Joy feeds his eyes, but Envy tears his heart.
So caught was Mars, and Mercury aloud
Proclaim'd his grief, that he was not the god;
So to be caught, was every god's desire:
Nor less than Venus, can Zelinda fire.
Forgive him then, thou more than heavenly fair,
Forgive his rashness, punish'd by despair;
All that we know, which wretched mortals feel
In those sad regions where the tortur'd dwell,
Is, that they see the raptures of the bless'd,
And view the joys which they must never taste.

LADY HYDE 1.

WHEN fam'd Apelles sought to frame
Some image of th' Idalian dame,
To furnish graces for the piece,

He summon'd all the nymphs of Greece;
So many mortals were combin'd

To show how one immortal shin'd.

Had Hyde thus sat by proxy too,
As Venus then was said to do,
Venus herself, and all the train!
Of goddesses had summon'd been;

The painter must have search'd the skies,
To match the lustre of her eyes.

Comparing then, while thus we view
The ancient Venus, and the new;
In her we many mortals see,
As many goddesses in thee.

LADY HYDE

HAVING THE SMALL POX, SOON AFTER THE
RECOVERY OF MRS. MOHUN.

SCARCE Could the general joy for Mohun appear,
But new attempts show other dangers near;
Beauty 's attack'd in her imperial fort,
Where all her Loves and Graces kept their court;
In her chief residence, besieg'd at last,
Laments to see her fairest fields laid waste.

On things immortal, all attempts are vain;
Tyrant Disease, 'tis loss of time and pain;
Glut thy wild rage, and load thee with rich prize
Torn from her cheeks, her fragrant lips, and eyes:
Let her but live; as much vermilion take,
As might an Helen, or a Venus make;
'Afterwards countess of Clarendon and Rochester.
VOL. XI.

ΤΟ

FLAVIA.

WRITTEN ON HER CARDEN IN THE NORTH.

WHAT charm is this, that in the midst of snow,
Of storms, and blasts, the choicest fruits do grow?
Melons on beds of ice are taught to bear,
And strangers to the Sun, yet ripen here;
On frozen ground the sweetest flowers arise,
Unseen by any light, but Flavia's eyes;
Where-e'er she treads, beneath the Charmer's feet
The rose, the jess'mine, and the lilies meet;
Where-e'er she looks, behold some sudden birth
Adorns the trees, and fructifies the earth;
In midst of mouutains, and unfruitful ground,
As rich an Eden as the first is found.

In this new Paradise the goddess reigns
In sovereign state, and mocks the lover's pains;
Beneath those beams that scorch us from her eyes,
Her snowy bosom still unmelted lies;

Love from her lips spreads all his odours round,
But bears on ice, and springs from frozen ground.
So cold the clime that can such wonders bear,
The garden seems an emblem of the fair.

ΤΟ

THE SAME:

HER GARDENS HAVING ESCAPED A FLOOD THAT HAD
LAID ALL THE COUNTRY ROUND UNDER WATER.

WHAT hands divine have planted and protect,
The torrent spares, and deluges respect;
So when the waters o'er the world were spread,
Covering each oak, and every mountain's head,
The chosen patriarch sail'd within his ark,
Nor might the waves o'erwhelm the sacred bark

The charming Flavia is no less, we find,
The favourite of Heaven, than of mankind;
The gods, like rivals, imitate our care,
And vie with mortals to oblige the fair;
These favours thus bestow'd on her alone,
Are but the homage which they send her down.
O Flavia may thy virtue from above
Be crown'd with blessings, endless as my love.

ΤΟ

MY FRIEND DR. GARTH.

IN HIS SICKNESS.

MACHAON sick, in every face we find
His danger is the danger of mankind;
Whose art protecting, Nature could expire
But by a deluge, or the general fire.

More lives he saves, than perish in our wars,
And faster than a plague destroys, repairs.
The bold carouser, and advent'rous dame,
Nor fear the fever, nor refuse the flame;
Safe in his skill, from all restraints set free,
But conscious shame, remorse, or piety.

Sire of all arts, defend thy darling son;
O! save the man whose life 's so much our own!
On whom, like Atlas, the whole world's reclin'd,
And by restoring Garth, preserve mankind.

She fans the fire, without one gale of hope,
Like the chaste Moon, she shines to all mankind,
But to Endymion is her love confin d.
What cruel destiny on Beauty waits,
When on one face depend so many fates!
Oblig'd by honour to relieve but one,
Unhappy men by thousands are undone.

TO MY DEAR KINSMAN,

CHARLES LORD LANSDOWNE,

UPON THE BOMBARDMENT OF

THE TOWN OF GRANVILLE IN NORMANDY
BY THE ENGLISH FLEET.

Tuo' built by gods, consum'd by hostile flame,
Troy bury'd lies, yet lives the Trojan name;
And so shall thine, though with these walls were lost

All the records our ancestors could boast.
For Latium conquer'd, and for Turnus slain,
Eneas lives, though not one stone remain
Where he arose: nor art thou less renown'd
For thy loud triumphs on Hungarian ground.

Those arms, 2 which for nine centuries had bray'd
The wrath of Time, on antique stone engrav'd,
Now torn by mortars, stand yet undefac'd
Ou nobler trophies, by thy valour rais'd :
Safe on thy eagle's 3 wings they soar above
The rage of war, or thunder to remove,
Borne by the bird of Cæsar, and of Jove,

LADY HYDE,

SITTING AT SIR GODFREY KNELLER'S
FOR HER PICTURE.

WHILE Kneller, with inimitable art,
Attempts that face whose print 's on every heart,
1 Apollo, god of poetry and physic.

2 The Granville arms still remaining at that time on one of the gates of the town.

3 He was created a count of the Empire, the family arms to be borne for ever upon the breast of the imperial spread eagle.

ΤΟ

MRS. GRANVILLE,

OF WOTTON IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
AFTERWARDS LADY CONWAY.

LOVE, like a tyrant whom no laws constrain,
Now for some ages kept the world in pain;
Beauty by vast destructions got renown,
And lovers only by their rage were known.
But Granville, more auspicious to mankind,
Conquering the heart, as much instructs the mind;
Blest in the fate of her victorious eyes,
Seeing, we love; and hearing, we grow wise:
So Rome for wisdom, as for conquest fam'd,
Improv'd with arts, whom she by arms had tam'd.
Above the clouds is plac'd this glorious light,
Nothing lies hid from her enquiring sight;
Athens and Rome for arts restor'd rejoice,
Their language takes new music from her voice;
Learning and Love, in the same seat we find,
So bright her eyes, and so adorn'd her mind.
Long had Minerva govern'd in the skies,
But now descends, confest to human eyes;
Behold in Granville that inspiring queen,
Whom learned Athens so ador'd unseen.

ΤΟ

MRS. AFRA BEHN

Two warrior chiefs the voice of Fame divide,
Who best deserv'd, not Plutarch could decide:
Behold two mightier conquerors appear,
Some for your wit, some for your eyes declare;
Debates arise, which captivates us most,
And none can tell the charm by which he's lost,
The bow and quiver does Diana bear;
Venus the dove; Pallas the shield and spear:
Poets such emblems to their gods assign,
Hearts bleeding by the dart and pen be thine.

4 Alexander and Casar.

THE DESERTION.

Now fly, Discretion, to my aid,

See haughty Myra, fair and bright, In all the pomp of Love array'd;

Ah! how I tremble at the sight! She comes, she comes-before her all Mankind does prostrate fall. Love, a destroyer fierce and young, Advent'rous, terrible, and strong, Cruel and rash, delighting still to vex,

Sparing nor age nor sex,

Commands in chief; well fortify'd he lies,
And from her lips, her cheeks and eyes,
All opposition he defies.

Reason, Love's old inveterate foe,
Scarce ever reconcil'd till now,

Reason assists her too.

A wise commander he, for council fit;
But nice and coy, nor has been seen to sit
In modern synod, nor appear'd of late
In courts, nor camps, nor in affairs of state;
Reason proclaims them all his foes,
Who such resistless charms oppose.
My very bosom friends make war
Within my breast, and in her interests are;
Esteem and Judgment with strong Fancy join
To court, and call the fair invader in ;
My darling favourite Inclination too,
All, all conspiring with the foe.

Ah! whither shall I fly to hide

My weakness from the conqu'ror's pride? Now, now, Discretion, be my guide.

Nor Venus, nor Diana will we name;

Myra is Venus and Diana too,

All that was feign'd of them, apply'd to her, is true;
Then sing, my Muse, let Myra be our theme.
As when the shepherds would a garland make,
They search with care the fragrant meadows
round,

Plucking but here and there, and only take
The choicest flow'rs with which some nymph is
crown'd:

In framing Myra so divinely fair,
Nature has taken the same care;

All that is lovely, noble, good, we see,
All, beauteous Myra, all bound up in thee.
Where Myra is, there is the queen of Love,
Th' Arcadian pastures, and th' Idalian grove.
Let Myra dance, so charming is her mien,
In every movement every grace is seen;
Let Myra sing, the notes so sweetly wound,
The Syrens would be silent at the sound.
Place me on mountains of eternal snow,
Where all is ice, all winter winds that blow ;
Or cast me underneath the burning line,
Where everlasting Sun does shine;
Where all is scorch'd--whatever you decree,
Ye gods! Wherever I shall be,

Myra shall still be lov'd, and still ador'd by me.

SONG. TO MYRA.

WHY, cruel creature, why so bent

To vex a tender heart?

To gold and title you relent,
Love throws in vain his dart.

II.

Let glittering fools in courts be great;
For pay, let armies move;
Beauty should have no other bait
But gentle vows, and love.

III.

If on those endless charms you lay
The value that 's their due,
Kings are themselves too poor to pay,
A thousand worlds too few.
IV.

But if a passion without vice,

Without disguise or art,

Ah Myra if true love 's your price, Behold it in my heart.

MYRA.

TUNE, tune thy lyre, begin my Muse,

What nymph, what queen, what goddess wilt thou choose?

Whose praises sing? Wat charmer's name Transmit immortal down to Fame? Strike, strike thy strings, let Echo take the sound, And bear it far, to all the mountains round; Pindus again shall hear, again rejoice, And Hemus too, as when th' enchanting voice Of tuneful Orpheus charm'd the grove, Taught oaks to dance, and made the cedars move.

MYRA SINGING.

THE Syrens, once deluded, vainly charm'd,
Ty'd to the mast, Ulysses sail'd unharm'd;
Had Myra's voice entic'd his listening ear,
The Greek had stopt, and would have dy'd to hear.
When Myra sings, we seek th' enchanting sound,
And bless the notes that do so sweetly wound.
What music needs must dwell upon that tongue,
Whose speech is tuneful as another's song!

C 2