He neither might, nor wish'd to know
A more refulgent light :
For that (as mine your beauties now)
Employ'd his utmost fight.
AIREST piece of well-form'd earth !
Urge not thus your haughty birth :
The power, which you have o'er us, lies
Not in your race, but in your eyes.
None but a prince!-alas! that voice
Confines you to a narrow choice.
Should you no honey vow to taste,
But what the master-bees have plac'd
In compass of their cells, how small
A portion to your share would fall!
Nor all appear among thofe few,
Worthy the stock from whence they grew :
The fap, which at the root is bred,
In trees, through all the boughs is fpread;
But virtues, which in parents shine,
Make not like progress through the line.
'Tis not from whom, but where, we live:
The place does oft thofe graces give.
Great Julius, on the mountains bred,
A flock perhaps, or herd, had led :
*He that the world fubdued, had been
But the best wrestler on the green.
'Tis art, and knowledge, which draw forth
The hidden feeds of native worth:
They blow thofe fparks, and make them rife
Into fuch flames as touch the skies:
To the old Heroes hence was given
A pedigree, which reach'd to heaven:
Of mortal feed they were not held,
Which other mortals fo excell'd.
And beauty too, in fuch excess
As yours, Zelinda! claims no less:
Smile but on me, and you shall scorn
Henceforth to be of Princes born.
I can defcribe the shady grove,
Where your loy'd mother slept with Jove:
And yet excufe the faultless dame,
Caught with her spouse's fhape and name:
Thy matchless form will credit bring
To all the wonders I shall fing.
To my Lady MORTON, on NEW-YEAR'S-DAY, at the LOUVRE in PARIS.
ADAM! new-years may well expect to find
Welcome from you, to whom they are so kind;
Still as they pass, they court and smile on you;
And make your beauty, as themselves, feem new.
To the fair Villars we Dalkeith prefer ;
And faireft Morton now as much to her:
So like the fun's advance your titles show,
Which, as he rises, does the warmer grow.
But thus to ftyle you fair, your fex's praise, Gives you but myrtle, who may challenge bays; From armed foes to bring a * Royal prize, Shews your brave heart victorious as your eyes. If Judith, marching with the General's head, Can give us paffion when her story 's read; What may the living do, which brought away Though a lefs bloody, yet a nobler prey? Who from our flaming Troy, with a bold hand, Snatch'd her fair charge, the Princefs, like a brand: A brand! preferv'd to warm some Prince's heart; And make whole kingdoms take her † Brother's part. So Venus, from prevailing Greeks, did fhrowd The hope of Rome, and fav'd him in a cloud. This gallant act may cancel all our rage,
Begin a better, and abfolve this age.
Dark fhades become the portrait of our time;
Here weeps Misfortune, and there triumphs Crime!
Let him that draws it hide the reft in night;
This portion only may endure the light,
Where the kind Nymph, changing her faultless shape,
Becomes unhandfome, handfomely to scape,
When through the guards, the river, and the sea,
Faith, beauty, wit, and courage, made their way.
As the brave eagle does with forrow fee
The forest wafted; and that lofty tree
* Henrietta Maria, youngest Daughter to K. Ch. I. + K. Charles II.
Which holds her neft about to be oe'rthrown,
Before the feathers of her young are grown;
She will not leave them, nor fhe cannot stay,
But bears them boldly on her wings away:
So fled the dame, and o'er the ocean bore
Her princely burthen to the Gallic shore.
Born in the ftorms of war, this Royal Fair,
Produc'd like lightning in tempestuous air,
Though now she flies her native ifle (lefs kind,
Lefs fafe for her than either fea or wind!)
Shall, when the bloffom of her beauty 's blown,
See her great Brother on the British throne:
Where peace fhall fmile, and no difpute arife,
But which rules moft, his fceptre, or her eyes.
TRANGE! that fuch horror, and fuch grace,
Should dwell together in one place;
A Fury's arm, an Angel's face !
'Tis innocence, and youth, which makes
In Chloris' fancy fuch mistakes,
To start at love, and play with fnakes.
By this, and by her coldness, barr'd,
Her fervants have a talk too hard:
The tyrant has a double guard!
Thrice happy snake! that in her fleeve
May boldly creep; we dare not give
Our thoughts fo unconfin'd a leave.
Contented in that neft of fnow
He lies, as he his blifs did know;
And to the wood no more would go.
Take heed, fair Eve! you do not make
Another tempter of this snake :
A marble one, fo warm'd, would speak.
NIGHT-PIECE,
Or, a Picture drawn in the Dark.
ARKNESS, which faireft nymphs difarms,
Defends us ill from Mira's charms:
Mira can lay her beauty by,
Take no advantage of the eye;
Quit all that Lely's art can take,
And yet a thousand captives make.
Her speech is grac'd with sweeter found,
Than in another's fong is found:
And all her well-plac'd words are darts,
Which need no light to reach our hearts.
As the bright stars, and Milky Way,
Shew'd by the night, are hid by day :
So we, in that accomplish'd mind,
Help'd by the night, new graces find,
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