Then, when the bloody priest has done his part, Pleas'd, in her hand she holds the beating heart; Nor from a scornful taunt can scarce refrain; Go, fool, and strive to please my love again. Now she would be Europa, lo now: (One borc a bull, and one was made a cow.) Yet she at last her brutal bliss obtain'd, And in a wooden cow the bull sustain'd; Fill'd with his seed, accomplish'd her desire; Till by his form the son betray'd the sire. If Atreus' wife to incest had not run, (But, ah, how hard it is to love but one!) His coursers Phobus had not driv'n away, To shun that sight, and interrupt the day. Thy daughter, Nisus, pull'd thy purple hair, And barking sea-dogs yet her bowels tear. At sea and land Atrides sav'd his life, Yet fell a prey to his adult'rous wife. Who knows not what revenge Medea sought, When the slain offspring bore the father's fault? Thus Phoenix did a woman's love bewail; And thus Hippolytus by Phædra fell. These crimes revengeful matrons did commit: Hotter their lust, and sharper is their wit. Doubt not from them an easy victory: Scarce of a thousand dames will one deny. All woman are content that men should woo; She who complains, and she who will not do. Rest then secure, whate'er thy luck may prove, Not to be hated for declaring love. And yet how canst thou miss, since womankind Is frail and vain, and still to change inclin'd? Old husbands and stale gallants they despise ; And more another's, than their own, they prize. A larger crop adorns our neighbour's field; More milk his kine from swelling udders yield. First gain the maid; by her thou shalt be sure A free access and easy to procure : Who knows what to her office does belong, Is in the secret, and can hold her tongue. Bribe her with gifts, with promises, and pray'rs, For her good word goes far in love-affairs. The time and fit occasion leave to her, When she most aptly can thy suit prefer. The time for maids to fire their lady's blood, Is, when they find her in a merry mood; When all things at her wish and pleasure move: Her heart is open then, and free to love. Then mirth and wantonness to lust betray, And smooth the passage to the lover's way. Troy stood the siege, when fill'd with anxious One merry fit concluded all the war.

[care:

If some fair rival vex her jealous mind, Offer thy service to revenge in kind. Instruct the damsel, while she combs her hair, To raise the choler of that injur'd fair; And, sighing, make her mistress understand, She has the means of vengeance in her hand:

Then, naming thee, thy humble suit prefer;
And swear thou languishest and diest for her.
Then let her lose no time, but push at all;
For woman soon are rais'd, and soon they
fall.

Give their first fury leisure to relent,
They melt like ice, and suddenly repent.

T'enjoy the maid, will that thy suit advance?
'Tis a hard question, and a doubtful chance.
One maid, corrupted, bawds the better for 't;
Another for herself would keep the sport.
Thy business may be further'd or delay'd:
But by my counsel, let alone the maid:
E'en though she should consent to do the feat,
The profit's little, and the danger great.
I will not lead thee through a rugged road;
But where the way lies open, safe, and broad.
Yet if thou find'st her very much thy friend,
And her good face her diligence commend
Let the fair mistress have thy first embrace,
And let the maid come after in her place.

But this I will advise, and märk my words; For 't is the best advice my skill affords; If needs thou with the damsel wilt begin, Before th' attempt is made, make sure to win, For then the secret better will be kept; And she can tell no tales when once she's dipt. "T is for the fowler's interest to beware, The bird intangled should not 'scape the snare. The fish, once prick'd, avoids the bearded hook, And spoils the sport of all the neighb'ring brook.. But if the wench be thine, she makes thy way, And, for thy sake, her mistress will betray; Tell all she knows, and all she hears her say. Keep well the counsel of thy faithful spy: So shalt thou learn whene'er she treads

awry.

course;

And that's a bloody day, that costs thy purse.

Be staunch; yet parsimony will be vain :
The craving sex will still the lover drain.
No skill can shift them off, nor art remove;
They will be begging when they know we love.
The merchant comes upon th' appointed day,
Who shall before thy face his wares display.
To choose for her she craves thy kind advice;
Then begs again, to bargain for the price :
But when she has her purchase in her eye,
She hugs thee close, and kisses thee to buy.
'Tis what I want, and 't is a pen'orth too;
In many years I will not trouble you.
If you complain you have no ready coin ;
No matter, 't is but writing of a line,
A little bill, not to be paid at sight;
Now curse the time when thou wert taught to
[cheer;
She keeps her birth-day; you must send the
And she 'll be born a hundred times a year.
With daily lies she dribs thee into cost;
That ear-ring dropt a stone, that ring is lost.
They often borrow what they never pay;
Whate'er you lend her, think it thrown away.
Had I ten mouths and tongues to tell each art,
All would be wearied ere I told a part.

write.

By letters, not by words, thy love begin,
And ford the dangerous passage with thy pen.
If to her heart thou aim'st to find the way,
Extremely flatter, and extremely pray.
Priam by prayers did Hector's body gain,
Nor is an angry god invok'd in vain.
With promis'd gifts her easy mind bewitch;
For e'en the poor in promise may be rich.
Vain hopes a while her appetite will stay;
'T is a deceitful, but commodious way.
Who gives is mad, but make her still believe
"'T will come, and that's the cheapest way to
give.

E'en barren lands fair promises afford;
But the lean harvest cheats the starving lord.
Buy not thy first enjoyment, lest it prove
Of bad example to thy future love:
But get it gratis; and she 'll give thee more,
For fear of losing what she gave before.
The losing gamester shakes the box in vain,
And bleeds, and loses on, in hopes to gain.

Write, then, and in thy letter, as I said,
Let her with mighty promises be fed.
Cydippe by a letter was betray'd,
Writ on an apple to th' unwary maid.
She read herself into a marriage vow;
(And every cheat in love the gods allow.)
Learn eloquence, ye noble youth of Rome;
It will not only at the bar o'ercome :
Sweet words the people and the senate move;
But the chief end of eloquence is love.
But in thy letter hile thy moving arts;
Affect not to be thought a man of parts.

None but vain fools to simple women preach!
A learned letter oft has made a breach.
In a familiar style your thoughts convey,
And write such things as present you would
say;
[move:
Such words as from the heart may seem to
'T is wit enough to make her think you love.
If scal'd she sends it back, and will not read,
Yet hope, in time, the business may succeed.
In time the steer will to the yoke submit;
In time the restiff horse will bear the bit.
E'en the hard ploughshare use will wear away;
And stubborn steel in length of time decay.
Water is soft, and marble hard; and yet
We see soft water through hard marble eat.
Though late, yet Troy at length in flames ex-
pir'd;

And ten years more Penelope had tir'd.
Perhaps thy lines unanswer'd she retain'd;
No matter; there's a point already gain'd:
For she, who reads, in time will answer too;
Things must be left by just degrees to grow.
Perhaps she writes, but answers with disdain,
And sharply bids you not to write again:
What she requires, she fears you should ac-
cord;

The jilt would not be taken at her word.

Meantime, if she be carried in her chair,
Approach, but do not seem to know she's there.
Speak softly to delude the standers-by;
Or, if aloud, then speak ambiguously.
If sauntering in the portico she walk,
Move slowly too; for that's a time for talk:
And sometimes follow, sometimes be her guide:
But, when the crowd permits, go side by side.
Nor in the play-house let her sit alone:
For she's the play-house and the play in one.
There thou mayst ogle, or by signs advance
Thy suit, and seem to touch her hand by chance.
Admire the dancer who her liking gains,
And pity in the play the lover's pains;
For her sweet sake the loss of time despise;
Sit while she sits, and when she rises rise.
But dress not like a fop, nor curl your hair,
Nor with a pumice make your body bare.
Leave those effeminate and useless toys
To eunuchs, who can give no solid joys.
Neglect becomes a man: this Theseus found :
Uncurl'd, uncomb'd, the nymph his wishes
crown'd.

The rough Hippolytus was Phædra's care;
And Venus thought the rude Adonis fair.
Be not too finical; but yet be clean;

And wear well-fashion'd clothes, like other men,
Let not your teeth be yellow, or be foul;
Nor in wide shoes your feet too loosely roll.
Of a black muzzle, and long beard, beware;
And let a skilful barber cut your hair:

Your nails be pick'd from filth, and even par'd;
Nor let your nasty nostrils bud with beard.
Cure your unsav'ry breath, gargle your throat,
And free your armpits from the ram and goat.
Dress not, in short, too little or too much;
And be not wholly French, nor wholly Dutch.
Now Bacchus calls me to his jolly rites;
Who would not follow, when a god invites ?
He helps the poet, and his pen inspires,
Kind and indulgent to his former fires.

Fair Ariadne wander'd on the shore,
Forsaken now; and Theseus loved no more:
Loose was her gown, dishevell'd was her hair;
Her bosom naked, and her feet were bare:
Exclaiming on the water's brink she stood;
Her briny tears augment the briny flood.
She shriek'd, and wept, and both became her
face:

No posture could that heav'nly form disgrace. She beat her breast: The traitor's gone, said she;

What shall become of poor forsaken me?

But thou, when flowing cups in triumph ride, And the lov'd nymph is seated by thy side; Invoke the god, and all the mighty pow'rs, That wine may not defraud thy genial hours. Then in ambiguous words thy suit prefer, Which she may know were all addrest to her, In liquid purple letters write her name, Which she may read, and reading find the flame. Then may your eyes confess your mutual fires, (For eyes have tongues, and glances tell desires ;) Whene'er she drinks, be first to take the cup; And, where she laid her lips, the blessing sup. When she to carving does her hand advance, Put out thy own, and touch it as by chance. Thy service e'en her husband must attend: (A husband is a most convenient friend.) Seat the fool cuckold in the highest place : And with thy gariand his dull temples grace. Whether below or equal in degree, Let him be lord of all the company,

And what he says be seconded by thee. [name: 'Tis common to deceive through friendship's

more,

The sounding cymbals rattled on the shore.
She swoons for fear, she falls upon the ground;
No vital heat was in her body found.
The Mimallonian dames about her stood;
And scudding satyrs ran before their god.
Silenus on his ass did next appear,

And held upon the mane, (the god was clear;)
The drunken sire pursues, the dames retire;
Sometimes the drunken dames pursue the drunk-
en sire.

At last he topples over on the plain;
The satyrs laugh, and bid him rise again.
And now the god of wine came driving on,
High on his chariot by swift tigers drawn,
Her colour, voice, and sense forsook the fair;
Thrice did her trembling feet for flight prepare,
And thrice affrighted did her flight forbear.
She shook, like leaves of corn when tempests
blow,

Or slender reeds that in the marshes grow.
To whom the god: Compose thy fearful mind;
In me a truer husband thou shalt find.
With heaven I will endow thee, and thy star
Shall with propitious light be seen afar,
And guide on seas the doubtful mariner.
He said, and from his chariot leaping light,
Lest the grim tigers should the nymph affright,
His brawny arms around her waist he threw ;
(For gods, whate'er they will, with ease can do:)
And swiftly bore her thence: th' attending
throng

Shout at the sight, and sing the nuptial song.
Now in full bowls her sorrow she may steep:
The bridegroom's liquor lays the bride asleep.

Thus factors frequently their trust betray,
And to themselves their masters' gains convey.
Drink to a certain pitch, and then give o'er;
Thy tongue and feet may stumble,drinking more.
Of drunken quarrels in her sight beware;
Pot-valour only serves to fright the fair.
Eurytion justly fell, by wine opprest,
For his rude riot at a wedding-feast.
Sing, if you have a voice; and show your parts
In dancing, if endu'd with dancing arts.
Do any thing within your power to please;
Nay, e'en affect a seeming drunkenness ;
Clip ev'ry word; and if by chance you speak
Too home, or if too broad a jest you break,
In your excuse the company will join,
And lay the fault upon the force of wine.
True drunkenness is subject to offend;
But when 'tis feign'd 't is oft a lover's friend.
Then safely you may praise her beauteous face,
And call him happy, who is in her grace.
Her husband thinks himself the man design'd;
But curse the cuckold in your secret mind.
When all are risen, and prepare to go,
Mix with the crowd, and tread upon her toe
This is the proper time to make thy court,
For now she's in the vein, and fit for sport.
Lay bashfulness, that rustic virtue, by;
To manly confidence thy thoughts apply.
On Fortune's foretop timely fix thy hold;
Now speak and speed, for Venus loves the bold,
No rules of rhetoric here I need afford :
Only begin, and trust the following word;
It will be witty of its own accord.

Act well the lover; let thy speech abound
In dying words, that represent thy wound:

Distrust not her belief; she will be mov'd;
All women think they merit to be lov'd.
Sometimes a man begins to love in jest,
And, after, feels the torment he profest.
For your own sakes be pitiful, ye fair;
For a feign'd passion may a true prepare.
By flatteries we prevail on womankind;
As hollow banks by streams are undermin'd.
Tell her, her face is fair, her eyes are sweet:
Her taper fingers praise, and little feet.
Such praises e'en the chaste are pleas'd to hear;
Both maids and matrons hold their beauty dear.
Once naked Pallas with Jove's queen ap-
pear'd;

And still they grieve that Venus was preferr❜d.
Praise the proud peacock, and he spreads his
Be silent, and he pulls it in again. [train:
Pleas'd is the courser in his rapid race;
Applaud his running, and he mends his pace.
But largely promise, and devoutly swear;
And, if need be, call ev'ry god to hear.
Jove sits above, forgiving with a smile
The perjuries that easy maids beguile.
He swore to Juno by the Stygian lake :
Forsworn, he dares not an example make,
Or punish falsehood, for his own dear sake.
"T is for our interest that the gods should be;
Let us believe 'em: I believe, they see,
And both reward, and punish equally.
Not that they live above like lazy drones,
Or kings below, supine upon their thrones.
Lead then your lives as present in their sight;
Be just in dealings, and defend the right;
By fraud betray not, nor oppress by might.
But 't is a venial sin to cheat the fair;
All men have liberty of conscience there.
On cheating nymphs a cheat is well design'd;
'Tis a profane and a deceitful kind.

"T is said, that Egypt for nine years was dry,
Nor Nile did floods, nor heav'n did rain supply.
A foreigner at length inform'd the king, [bring.
That slaughter'd guests would kindly moisture
The king replied: On thee the lot shall fall;
Be thou, my guest, the sacrifice for all.
Thus Phalaris Perillus taught to low,
And made him season first the brazen cow.
A rightful doom, the laws of nature cry,
'Tis, the artificers of death should die.
Thus justly women suffer by deceit ;
Their practice authorizes us to cheat.
Beg her, with tears, thy warm desires to grant;
For tears will pierce a heart of adamant.
If tears will not be squeez'd, then rub your eye,
Or 'noint the lids, and seem at least to cry.
Kiss, if you can: resistance if she make,
And will not give you kisses, let her take.
Fy, fy, you naughty man, are words of course;
She struggles but to be subdu'd by force.

Kiss only soft, I charge you, and beware,
With your hard bristles not to brush the fair.
He who has gain'd a kiss, and gains no more,
Deserves to lose the bliss he got before.
If once she kiss, her meaning is exprest;
There wants but little pushing for the rest:
Which if thou dost not gain, by strength or art,
The name of clown then suits with thy desert;
'T is downright dulness, and a shameful part.
Perhaps, she calls it force; but if she 'scape,
She will not thank you for the omitted rape.
The sex is cunning to conceal their fires;
They would be forc'd e'en to their own desires.
They seem t' accuse you, with a downcast

sight,

But in their souls confess you did them right.
Who might be forc'd, and yet untouch'd depart,
Thank with their tongues, but curse you with
their heart.

Fair Phoebe and her sister did prefer
To their dull mates the noble ravisher.

What Deidamia did, in days of yore,
The tale is old, but worth the reading o'er.
When Venus had the golden apple gain'd,
And the just judge fair Helen had obtain❜d:
When she with triumph was at Troy receiv'd,
The Trojans joyful while the Grecians griev'd:
They vow'd revenge of violated laws,
And Greece was arming in the cuckold's cause:
Achilles, by his mother warn'd from war,
Disguis'd his sex, and lurk'd among the fair,
What means Ecides to spin and sew?
With spear and sword in field thy valour show;
And, leaving this, the nobler Pallas know.
Why dost thou in that hand the distaff wield,
Which is more worthy to sustain the shield?
Or with that other draw the woolly twine,
The same the fates for Hector's thread assign?
Brandish thy falchion in thy pow'rful hand,
Which can alone the pond'rous lance command.
In the same room by chance the roya! maid
Was lodg'd, and, by his seeming sex betray'd,
Close to her side the youthful hero laid.
I know not how his courtship he began;
But, to her cost, she found it was a man.
'Tis thought she struggled; but withal 't is
thought,

Her wish was to be conquer'd, when she fought.
For when disclos'd, and hast'ning to the field,
He laid his distaff down, and took the shield,
With tears her humble suit she did prefer,
And thought to stay the grateful ravisher.
She sighs, she sobs, she begs him not to part:
And now 't is nature, what before was art.
She strives by force her lover to detain,
And wishes to be ravish'd once again.
This is the sex, they will not first begin,
But when compell'd, are pleas'd to suffer sin,

Is there, who thinks that women first should woo?

Lay by thy self-conceit, thou foolish beau.
Begin, and save their modesty the shame;
"T is well for thee, if they receive thy flame.
'T is decent for a man to speak his mind;
They but expect th' occasion to be kind.
Ask, that thou mayst enjoy; she waits for this;
And on thy first advance depends thy bliss.
E'en Jove himself was forc'd to sue for love;
None of the nymphs did first solicit Jove.
But if
you find your prayers increase her pride,
Strike sail a while, and wait another tide.
They fly when we pursue; but make delay,
And, when they see you slacken, they will stay.
Sometimes it profits to conceal your end;
Name not yourself her lover, but her friend.
How many skittish girls have thus been caught?
He prov'd a lover, who a friend was thought.

Sailors by sun and wind are swarthy made; A tann'd complexion best becomes their trade. "T is a disgrace to ploughmen to be fair; Bluff cheeks they have, and weather-beaten hair.

Th' ambitious youth, who seeks an olive crown,
Is sun-burnt with his daily toil and brown.
But if the lover hopes to be in grace,
Wan be his looks, and meager be his face.
That colour from the fair compassion draws:
She thinks you sick, and thinks herself the cause.
Orion wander'd in the woods for love:
His paleness did the nymphs to pity move;
His ghastly visage argued hidden love.
Nor fail a nightcap, in full health, to wear;
Neglect thy dress, and discompose thy hair.
All things are decent, that in love avail :
Read long by night, and study to be pale:
Forsake your food, refuse your needful rest;
Be miserable, that you may be blest.

Shall I complain, or shall I warn you most?
Faith, truth, and friendship in the world are lost;
A little and an empty name they boast.
Trust not thy friend, much less thy mistress
praise:

If he believe, thou mayst a rival raise.
"T is true, Patroclus, by no lust misled,
Sought not to stain his dear companion's bed.
Nor Pylades Hermione embrac'd;
E'en Phædra to Pirithous still was chaste.
But hope not thou, in this vile age, to find
Those rare examples of a faithful mind.
The sea shall sooner with sweet ho..ey w
Or from the furzes pears and apples grow.
We sin with gust, we love by fraud to gaiz:
And find a pleasure in our fe pain.
From rival foes you may the fair defend;
But, would you ward the blow, beware your
friend:

Beware your brother, and your next of kin ;
But from your bosom-friend your care begin.
Here I had ended, but experience finds,
That sundry women are of sundry minds;
With various crotchets fill'd, and hard to please:
They therefore must be caught by various ways.
All things are not produc'd in any soil;
This ground for wine is proper, that for oil.
So 't is in men, but more in womankind :
Different in face, in manners, and in mind:
But wise men shift their sails with every wind:
As changeful Proteus varied oft his shape,
And did in sundry forms and figures 'scape
A running stream, a standing tree became,
A roaring lion, or a bleating lamb.
Some fish with harpoons, some with darts are
struck,
[hook:
Some drawn with nets, some hang upon the
So turn thyself; and imitating them,
Try several tricks, and change thy stratagem.
One rule will not for different ages hold;
The jades grow cunning, as they grow more old.
Then talk not bawdy to the bashful maid :
Broad words will make her innocence afraid.
Nor to an ignorant girl of learning speak
She thinks you conjure, when you talk in Greek.
And hence 't is often seen, the simple shun
The learn'd, and into vile embraces run.

Part of my task is done, and part to do,
But here 't is time to rest myself and you.

FROM OVID'S AMOURS.

BOOK I. ELEG. I.

FOR mighty wars I thought to tune my lute,
And make my measures to my subject suit.
Six feet for ev'ry verse the Muse design'd:
But Cupid, laughing, when he saw my mind
From ev'ry second verse a foot purloin'.
Who gave thee, boy, this arbitrary sway,
On subjects, not thy own, commards to lay,
Who Phoebus only and his laws obey?
'T is more absurd than if the Queen of Love
Should in Minerva's arms to battle move;
Or manly Pallas from that queen should take
Her torch, and o'er the Zying lover shake,
In fielas as we may Cynthia sow the corn,
Gr Ceres and woods the bugle-horn
As e.. may rhœbus quit the trembling string,
For red and shield; and Mars may
learn to
A.ready thy dominions are too large;
Be not ambitious of a foreign charge.
If thou wilt reign o'er all, and every where,
The god of music for his harp may fear.
Thus when with soaring wings I seek renown,
Thou pluck'st my pinions and I flutter down.

[sing.