Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Since Phyllis vouchfaf'd me a look,
I never once dream'd of my vine;
May I lose both my pipe and my crook,
If I knew of a kid that was mine.
I priz'd every hour that went by,
Beyond all that had pleas'd me before;
But now they are pafs'd, and I figh,
And I grieve that I priz'd them no more.

But why do I languifh in vain ?

Why wander thus penfively here?
O, why did I come from the plain,
Where I fed on the fmiles of my dear?
They tell me, my favourite maid,

The pride of that valley, is flown!
Alas! where with her I have ftray'd,

I could wander with pleasure, alone.

When forc'd the fair nymph to forego,
What anguifh I felt at my heart!..
Yet I thought but it might not be fo
'Twas with pain that fhe faw me depart.
She gaz'd, as I flowly withdrew: @
My path I could hardly difcern';
So fweetly fhe bade me adieu,

I thought that the bade me return.

[ocr errors]

A

The pilgrim that journeys all day
To vifit fome far diftant fhrine,
If he bear but a relique away,

Is happy, nor heard to repine.
Thus widely remov'd from the fair,
Where my vows, my devotion, I owe,
Soft Hope is the relique I bear,

[blocks in formation]

"Y banks are all furnifh'd with bees,
Whose murmur invites one to fleep ;

My grottos are fhaded with trees,

And my hills are white over with fheep..
I seldom have met with a lofs,
Such health do my fountains bestow ;
My fountains, all border'd with moss,
Where the hare-bells and violets grow..

Not a pine in my grove is there seen,
But with tendrils of woodbine is bound.

Not a beech's more beautiful ligreen,
But a fweet-briar twines it around.
Not my. fields in the prime of the year
More charms than my cattle unfold:
Not a brook that is limpid and clear,
But it glitters with fishes of gold..

One

One would think the might like to retire
To the bow'r I have labour'd to rear ;
Not a fhrub that I heard her admire,

But I hafted and planted it there.
O how fudden the jeffamine ftrove
- With the lilac to render it gay!
Already it calls for my love,

Το prune the wild branches

away.

From the plains, from the woodlands, and groves, What ftrains of wild melody flow!

How the nightingales warble their loves,

From thickets of rofes that blow ! And when her bright form fhall appear, Each bird shall harmoniously join

In a concert fo foft and so clear,

As

he may not be fond to refign.

I have found out a gift for

my fair,

I have found where the wood-pigeons breed.

But let me that plunder forbear,

She will fay 'twas a barbarous deed.

For he ne'er could be true, fhe averr'd,
Who could rob a poor bird of its
And I lov'd her the more when I heard

young i

Such tenderness fall from her

tongue.

I have

I have heard her with fweetness unfold

How that pity was due to a dove:
That it ever attended the bold,

And fhe call'd it the filter of Love.
But her words fuch a pleasure convey,
So much I her accents adore,
Let her fpeak, and, whatever the fay,
Methinks I fhould love her the more.

Can a bofom fo gentle remain

Unmov'd, when her Corydon fighs?
Will a nymph that is fond of the plain,
These plains and this valley defpife?
Dear regions of filence and fhade!

Soft fcenes of contentment and ease!
Where I could have pleasingly ftray'd,
If aught, in her abfence, could please..

But where does my Phyllida ftray?

And where are her grots and her bow'rs!
Are the groves and the valleys as gay,
And the fhepherds as gentle as ours?

The groves may perhaps be as fair,

And the face of the valleys as fine; The fwains may in manners compare, But their love is not equal to mine.

III. SOLI

III. SOLICITUDE.

HY will you my paffion reprove ?

WHY

Why term it a folly to grieve,
Ere I fhew you the charms of my love,

She is fairer than you can believe..
With her mien fhe enamours the brave;
With her wit fhe engages the free ;
With her modefty pleases the grave;
She is ev'ry way pleasing to me.

O you that have been of her train,
Come and join in my amorous lays!
I could lay down my life for the fwain
That will fing but a fong in her praise..
When he fings, may the nymphs of the town:
Come trooping, and liften the while ;
Nay, on him let not Phyllida frown;
But I cannot allow her to fmile.

For when Paridel tries in the dance.
Any favour with Phyllis to find,
O how, with one trivial glance,
Might fhe ruin the peace of my mind!
In ringlets he dresses his hair,

And his crook is beftudded around ;
And his pipe O may Phyllis beware
Of a magic there is in the found.

'Tis

« AnteriorContinuar »