Amours

In vain are fear'd, are but the tricks of law,

To keep the foolish cred'lous world in awe;

Or, if there be a god, he loves the fair,

And all things at their sole disposal are.

For us are all the instruments of war

Design'd, the sword of Mars, and Pallas' spear;

'Gainst us alone Apollo's bows are bent,

And at our hands Jove's brandish'd thunder sent.

Yet of the ladies, oh ! how fond are they !

Dare not the inj'ries they receive, repay,

But those who ought to fear them they obey.

Jove to his votaries is most severe;

Temples nor altars does his lightning spare.

Obliging Semele in flames expires,

But those who merit, can escape the fires.

Is this the justice of your pow'rs divine?

Who then will offer incense at a shrine ?

Why do we thus reproach the deities ?

Have they not hearts ?-and surely they have eyes,

Nay, had I been a god, I had believ'd

The lovely criminals, and been deceiv'd;

Had wav'd the judgments to their perj'ries due,

And sworn myself that all they spoke was true.

Since then the gods such ample gifts bestow,

As make you absolute o'er men below;

Pray let me find some mercy in your reign,

Or spare at least your lover's eyes from pain.

Vex not thyself and her, vain man, since all

By their own vice or virtue stand or fall.

She's truly chaste, and worthy of that name,

Who hates the ill, as well as fears the shame;

And that vile woman whom restraint keeps in,

Tho' she forbear the act, has done the sin.

Spies, locks, and bolts may keep her brutal part,

But thou'rt an odious cuckold in her heart.

They that have freedom use it least, and so

The power of ill does the design overthrow.

Provoke not vice by a too harsh restraint;

Sick men long most to drink, who know they mayn't.

The fiery courser, whom no art can stay,

Or rugged force, does oft fair means obey;

And he that did the rudest arm disdain,

Submits with quiet to the looser rein.

A hundred eyes had Argus, yet the while

One silly maid did all those eyes beguile;

Danae, tho' shut within a brazen tow'r,

Felt the male virtue of the golden show'r;

But chaste Penelope, left to her own will

And free disposal, never thought of ill;

She to her absent lord preserv'd her truth,

For all th' addresses of the smoother youth,

What's rarely seen, our fancy magnifies;

Permitted pleasure who does not despise ?

Thy care provokes beyond her face, and more

Men strive to make tho cuckold than the whore.

They're wondrous charms we think, and long to know

That in a wife enchants a husband so:

Rage, swear, and curse, no matter, she alone

Pleases, who sighs, and cries, " I am undone."

But could thy spies say, " We have kept her chaste,"

Good servants then, but an ill wife thou hast;

Who fears to be a cuckold is a clown,

Not worthy to partake of this lewd town,

Where it is monstrous to be fair and chaste,

And not one inch of either sex lies waste.

Wouldst thou be happy ? with her ways comply,

And in her case lay points of honour by:

The friendship she begins, wisely improve,

And a fair wife gets one a world of love:

So shalt thou welcome be to ev'ry treat,

Live high, not pay, and never run in debt.

'Twas in the midst and silent dead of night,

When heavy sleep oppos'd my weary sight,

This vision did my troubled mind affright:-

To Sol expos'd there stood a rising ground,

Which cast beneath a spacious shade around;

A gloomy grove of spreading oaks below,

And various birds were perch'd on ev'ry bough;

Just on the margin of a verdant mead,

Where murm'ring brooks refreshing waters spread

To shun the heat I sought this cool recess,

But in this shade I felt my heat no less;

When browzing o'er the flow'ry grass appear'd

A lovely cow, the fairest of the herd.

By spotless white distinguished from the rest,

Whiter than milk from her own udder press'd;

Whiter than falling, or the driven snow,

Before descending mists can make it flow.

She, with a lusty bull, her happy mate,

Delighted, on the tender herbage sat;

There, as he crops the flow'rs, and chews the cud,

Feasting a second time upon his food,

His limbs with sudden heaviness oppress'd,

He bends his head, and sinks to pleasing rest.

A noisy crow, cleaving the liquid air,

Thrice with lewd bill pick'd off the heifer's hair;

The glossy white imbib'd a spreading blot,

But on her breast appear'd a livid spot.

The cow rose slowly from her consort's side,

But when afar the grazing bull she spied,