Sarum, thy candidates be nam'd,
Sarum, for beauties ever fam'd,
Whose nymphs excel all beauty's flowers,
As thy high steeple doth all towers.
The court was plac'd in manner fitting;
Venus upon the bench was sitting;
Cupid was secretary made.
The crier an O Yes display'd;
Like mortal crier's loud alarum,
Bring in petitions from New Sarum.
*When lo, in bright celestial state,
Jove came and thunder'd at the gate.
'And can you, daughter, doubt to whom
'(He cried) belongs the happy doom,
'While Ccks yet make bless'd the earth,
'C—cks, who long before their birth,
'I, by your own petition mov'd,
'Decreed to be by all belov'd,
'C―cks, to whose celestial dower
'I gave all beauties in my power;
'To form whose lovely minds and faces,
'I stripp'd half heaven of its graces.
'Oh let them bear an equal sway,
'So shall mankind well-pleas'd obey.'
The god thus spoke, the goddess bow'd;
Her rising blushes strait avow'd
Her hapless memory and shame,
And Cupid glad writ down their name.
* The middle part of this poem (which was written when the author was very young) was filled with the names of several young ladies, who might perhaps be uneasy at seeing themselves in print, that part therefore is left out; the rather, as some freedoms, though gentle ones, were taken with little foibles in the amiable sex, whom to affront in print, is, we conceive, mean in any man, and scandalous in a gentleman.
DIXIT; et avertens roseâ cervice refulsit,
Ambrosiæque comæ divinum vertice odorem
Spiravere pedes vestis defluxit ad imos,
Et vera incessu patuit Dea.—
SHE said; and turning, shew'd her wrinkled neck, In scales and colour like a roach's back.
Forth from her greasy locks such odours flow,
As those, who've smelt Dutch coffee-houses, know.
To her mid-leg her petticoat was rear'd,
And the true slattern in her dress appear'd.
AUT ubi cecropius formidine nubis aquosæ
Sparsa super flores examina tollit Hymettos;
Ad dulces ceras et odori corticis antra,
Mellis apes gravidæ properant, densoque volatu
Raucum connexæ glomerant ad limina murmur.
OR when th' Hymettian shepherd, struck with fear Of wat❜ry clouds thick gathered in the air, Collects to waxen cells the scatter'd bees Home from the sweetest flowers, and verdant trees; Loaded with honey to the hive they fly,
And humming murmurs buzz along the sky.
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1728.
BURNING with love, tormented with despair, Unable to forget or ease his care;
In vain each practis'd art Alexis tries;
In vain to books, to wine or women flies;
Each brings Euthalia's image to his eyes.
In Lock's or Newton's page her learning glows;
Dryden the sweetness of her numbers shews;
In all their various excellence I find
The various beauties of her perfect mind.
How vain in wine a short relief I boast!
Each sparkling glass recalls my charming toast.
To women then successless I repair,
Engage the young, the witty, and the fair.
When Sappho's wit each envious breast alarms,
And Rosalinda looks ten thousand charms;
In vain to them my restless thoughts would run ;
Like fairest stars, they show the absent sun.
CREDO pudicitiam Saturno rege * moratam
In terris, visamque diu; cùm frigida parvas
Præberet spelunca domos, ignemque, Laremque,
Et pecus, et dominos communi clauderet umbrâ:
Silvestrem montana torum cùm sterneret uxor
Frondibus et culmo, vicinarumque † ferarum.
*Aureo scilicet sæculo; quod viguisse Saturno, Coeli et Vestæ filio, in Latio regnante a poetis fingitur. Regem hunc eleganter satis poeta profert, cum de moribus in Latio mutatis agitur.
+ Contubernalium: Vel forsan non longe petitarum sicut nunc; et exprobrare vult sui temporis Romanis, qui ex longinquo, mollitiei vel odoris causâ, ferarum pelles maximo cûm pretio comparabant:
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