LOVE-passions are like parables,
By which men still mean something else. Though Love be all the world's pretence, Money's the mythologic sense;
The real substance of the shadow,
Which all address and courtship's made to.
Hudibras, Part II., Canto 1.
THESE love-tricks I've been vers'd in so,
That all their sly intrigues I know,
And can unriddle by their tones, Their mystic cabals and jargons; Can tell what passions by their sounds, Pine for the beauties of my grounds; What raptures fond and amorous O' th' charms and graces of my What ecstacy and scorching flame, Burns for my money in my name; What from th' unnatural desire To beasts and cattle takes its fire; What tender sigh and trickling tear, Longs for a thousand pounds a year; And languishing transports are found Of statute, mortgage, bill, and bond.
These are th' attracts which most men fall Inamour'd, at first sight, withal. To these th' address with serenades, And court with balls and masquerades ; And yet, for all the yearning pain
Y' have suffer'd for their loves in vain. I fear they'll prove so nice and coy To have, and t' hold, and to enjoy, That all your oaths and labour lost, They'll ne'er turn ladies of the post. This is not meant to disapprove Your judgment in your choice of love; Which is so wise, the greatest part Of mankind study 't as an art; For love should, like a deodand, Still fall to th' owner of the land;
And where there's substance for its ground, Cannot but be more firm and sound
Than that which has the slightest basis Of airy virtue, wit, and graces; Which is of such thin subtlety, It steals and creeps in at the eye, And, as it can't endure to stay, Steals out again as nice a way.
But love that its extraction owns From solid gold and precious stones, Must, like its shining parents, prove As solid and as glorious love.
Hence 'tis you have no way ť' express Our charms and graces but by these: For what are lips, and eyes, and teeth, Which beauty invades and conquers with, But rubies, pearls, and diamonds With which a philter-love commands?
This is the way all parents prove, In managing their children's love; That force 'em t' intermarry and wed, As if th' were burying of the dead; Cast earth to earth, as in the grave, And join in wedlock all they have; And when the settlement's in force, Take all the rest for better or worse: For money has a power above The stars and fate to manage love; Whose arrows, learned poets hold, That never miss, are tipp'd with gold.
Hudibras-The Lady's Answer.
'Tis but an ague that's reverst, Whose hot fit takes the patient first, That after burns with cold as much As ev'n in Greenland does the touch.
Hudibras, Part III., Canto 1.
A RECEIPT FOR COURTSHIP.
Two or three dears, and two or three sweets; Two or three balls, and two or three treats; Two or three serenades, given as a lure; Two or three oaths how much they endure;
Two or three messages sent in one day; Two or three times led out from the play; Two or three soft speeches made by the way; Two or three tickets for two or three times; Two or three love-letters writ all in rhymes; Two or three months keeping strict to these rules; Can never fail making a couple of fools.
INTELLECTUAL SYMPATHY.
BEAUTY still walketh on the earth and air, Our present sunsets are as rich in gold As ere the Iliad's music was outrolled : The roses of the Spring are ever fair,
'Mong branches green still ring-doves coo and pair, And the deep sea still foams its music old.
So, if we are at all divinely soul'd,
This beauty will unloose our bond of care.
'Tis pleasant when blue skies are o'er us bending Within old starry-gated Poesy
To meet a soul set to no worldly tune
Like thine, sweet Friend! Oh dearer this to me
Than are the dewy trees, the sun, the moon, Or noble music with a golden ending.
How pleasing wears the wintry night, Spent with the old illustrious dead! While, by the taper's trembling light, I seem those awful scenes to tread Where chiefs or legislators lie, Whose triumphs move before my eye,
In arms or antique pomp arrayed; While now I taste the Ionian song, Now bend to Plato's god-like tongue, Resounding through the olive shade.
But should some cheerful equal friend Bid leave the studious page awhile, Let mirth on wisdom then attend, And social ease on learned toil.
AKENSIDE. Ode on the Winter Solstice.
LAWRENCE, of virtuous father, virtuous son,
Now that the fields are dank and ways are mire,
When shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help waste a sullen day, what may be won From the hard season gaining? Time will run On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire The lily and the rose, that neither sow'd nor spun. What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air? He who of those delights can judge, and spare To interpose them oft, is not unwise.
MILTON. Sonnet to Mr. Lawrence.
CYRIACK, whose grandsire, on the royal bench Of British Themis, with no mean applause Pronounced, and in his volumes taught our laws, Which others at the bar so often wrench; To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench In mirth that after no repenting draws;* Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause,
And what the Swede intends, and what the French. To measure life learn thou betimes, and know Toward solid good what leads the nearest way; For other things mild Heaven a time ordains, And disapproves that care, though wise in show, That with superfluous burden loads the day, And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
MILTON. Sonnet to Cyriack Skinner.
COME, then! and while the slow icicle hangs At the stiff thatch, and winter's frosty pangs Benumme the year, blith (as of old) let us 'Mid noise and war, of peace and mirth discusse. This portion thou wert born for. Why should we Vex at the time's ridiculous miserie ?
An age that thus hath fooled itselfe, and will, (Spite of thy teeth and mine,) persist so still. Let's sit then at this fire; and, while we steal A revell in the town, let others seal,
* I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning.
Purchase, or cheat, and who can let them pay, Till those black deeds bring on the darksome day. Innocent spenders we! a better use
Shall wear out our short lease, and leave th' obtuse Rout to their husks. They and their bags at best Have cares in earnest.* We care for a jest!
THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE.
COME live with me, and be my love,t And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, Or woods, and steepy mountains yield. Where we will sit upon the rocks And see the shepherds feed our flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses, And then a thousand fragrant posies,
* And for you that have had many grave, serious men pity anglers; let me tell you, sir, there be many men that are by others taken to be serious and grave men, whom we contemn and pity. Men that are taken to be grave, because nature hath made them of a sour complexion, money-getting men, men that spend all their time first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it; men that are condemned to be rich, and then always busy or discontented for these poor, rich men, we anglers pity them perfectly, and stand in no need to borrow their thoughts to think ourselves so happy. No, no, sir, we enjoy a contentedness above the reach of such dispositions.
† Live, live with me, and thou shalt see, The pleasures I'll prepare for thee; What sweets the country can afford Shall bless thy bed and bless thy board; The soft sweet moss shall be thy bed, With crawling woodbine overspread; By which the silver-shedding streams Shall gently melt thee into dreams: Thy clothing next shall be a gown Made of the fleece's purest down;
These-nay, and more thine own shall be,
If thou wilt love and live with me.
HERRICK. To Phillis, to love and live with him.
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