2. TO HIS MUSE. WHITHER, mad maiden, wilt thou roam? There with the reed thou mayst express And with thy eclogues intermix Some smooth and harmless bucolics. May take the simple villages; But for the court, the country wit Is despicable unto it. Stay, then, at home, and do not go Where thou mayst hear thine own lines read By no one tongue there censured. That man's unwise will search for ill, And may prevent it, sitting still. 3. TO HIS BOOK. WHILE thou didst keep thy candour undefil'd, 4. ANOTHER. To read my book the virgin shy May blush while Brutus standeth by, But when he's gone, read through what's writ, And never stain a cheek for it. 7. TO HIS BOOK. COME thou not near those men who are like bread O'er-leaven'd, or like cheese o'er-renneted. 8. WHEN HE WOULD HAVE HIS VErses read. IN sober mornings, do not thou rehearse But when that men have both well drunk and fed, Brutus, see Martial, xi. 16, quoted in Note at the end of the volume When laurel spirts i'th' fire, and when the hearth Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth; When up the thyrse* is rais'd, and when the sound Of sacred orgies † flies, a round, a round. When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine, Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine. 9. UPON JULIA'S RECOVERY. DROOP, droop no more, or hang the head, Ye roses almost withered; Now strength and newer purple get, Each here declining violet. O primroses! let this day be A resurrection unto ye; And to all flowers ally'd in blood, IO. TO SILVIA TO WED. LET us, though late, at last, my Silvia, wed, And loving lie in one devoted bed. *"A javelin twined with ivy" (Note in the original edition). +"Songs to Bacchus" (Note in the original edition.) Round, a rustic dance. Cato, see Martial, x. 17, quoted in Note. = Beams, perhaps here branches: but cp. 440. Thy watch may stand, my minutes fly post-haste; Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove; II. THE PARLIAMENT OF ROSES TO JULIA. I DREAMT the roses one time went Then in that parly all those powers 12. NO BASHFULNESS IN BEGGING. To get thine ends, lay bashfulness aside; State, a canopy. Tiffanie, gauze. Parly, a parliament. 13. THE FROZEN HEART. I FREEZE, I freeze, and nothing dwells For pity's sake, give your advice, To melt this snow and thaw this ice. 14. TO PERILLA. Ан, my Perilla! dost thou grieve to see "Twill not be long, Perilla, after this, The gods' protection but the night before. Then shall my ghost not walk about, but keep Weekly strewings, i.e., of flowers on his grave. |