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A Gentleman's Answer to His Friend Who Asked Him if he Still Loved his Mistress

WHO ASKED HIM IF HE STILL LOVED HIS MISTRESS, WHO WAS TURNED DEBAUCHED .

S URE nought 's so false, so faithless I can name,
As popular applause, and common fame;
It calls the courteous knave, the plain man rude,
Haughty the grave, and the familiar lewd.
Poor helpless woman is not favour'd more,
A hypocrite she is, or else a whore.
Such is the fate of my adored she,
Fall'n under the reproach of infamy:
Yet still I'll love her, at her feet I'll bow,
Though all that's spoke infallibly be true;

On the Rev. Samuel Clark

WHO DIED DECEMBER THE 26TH, AGED 42 .

What ! though such various worth is seldom known,
No adulation rears this sacred stone,
No partial love this genuine picture draws,
No venal pencil prostitutes applause:
Justice and truth in artless colours paint
The Man, the Friend, the Preacher, and the Saint.

The Paradox and Seldom Contentment of the God Loving Soul

In answer to a Letter which was full of Love, Comfort and Humility

FIRST PART

1.

In Jesus loving frind! What love does thou inherit!
How glows, & burns thy Heart in true drift of the Spirit!
In truth a Seraphim has thus thy Soul inflamed,
And has with his bright Glance, & Beams upon thee gleamed.

2.

Thy tongue does really drop with Honey, sweet affected
And ev'ry syllable is with a kiss directed:

Of the Wilderness of the Secret, or Private Virgin-Cross-Love

FIRST PART

1.

A True Friend came to see Johann in his Recesses;
In quiet Solitude, in lonesom wildernesses;
For He was deadly Sick, & lonesom Day by day;
For joy to see his frind he fainted quite away.

2.

The frind embraced him, with trying to relieve him,
Tho 'twas a pretty while before John could perceive him,
Johannes, says the frind, I know what troubles thee,

Taken with Love of Adriana His misfortune thus He bewailes

Taken with Love of Adriana His misfortune thus He bewailes

O cruell Nimph fayre Adriana, how
Dos't stil Thy Ears stop to my praiers and vowe?
Thou art soe many wayes by Venus grac't
Soe many Cupids Mustring in Thee plac't
As that noe Lillies can more white disclose
Nor fresher Tincture bears the blushing Rose
Than thy cheekes wear: it may be Thou art Coye
For this, Least too much bewty should destroy
Soe wear'st a Vale; the Sun too takes delight
To mask in Clowds some times, t'appeer more bright
When those blow over: Lay distrust aside

Spoken Extempore, to the Right Honourable the Lady Barbara North, on Her Presenting the Author with a White Ribband at Tunbridge-Wells

This Present from a lovely Dame,
Fair and unsully'd, as her Fame,
Shall to Hibernia be convey'd,
Where once, rever'd, her Father sway'd;
And taught the drooping Arts to smile,
And with his Virtues bless'd our Isle.

In Excelsis Thema

Voice that blesses, eyes that light,
Vision on the vestal height,
Bright One,
White One,
Lead aright!

Chaste as lily, mild as dove,
Brave as eagle, fair as love,
Fold us,
Hold us,
Lead above!

Mystic mountains all untrod
We shall pass, with patience shod;
Featly,
Sweetly,

Sonnet 44. Written at Penshurst

Ye walls, for gallantry and knighthood fam'd,
Which oft with sounds of social pleasure rung;
Ye groves and lawns, where Waller's tuneful tongue
To gales and murm'ring streams his love proclaim'd,
And each wild echo Sacharissa nam'd;
Your white cascades, with foamy tumult flung
Down the steep slope, and glades so sweetly sung;
No poet now explores with feet unblam'd.
Yet suffer me to breathe your vernal gales,
A poet, no! but of that gentle train,
Who love to mark in woods and pathless vales

Love and Time

The longest night of the year, they say;
By four of the clock, the dark comes down,
And the hills loom dim and far away,
While the lights wink out in the big, vague town.

And yet, O Love, of the nights I know,
This night was briefest, — so brief, so blest.
For you came and gave me your heart, and so
Time was nothing and darkness best!

When Love and Beauty Wander Away

When Love and Beauty wander away,
And there's no more hearts to be sought and won,
When the old earth limps thro' the dreary day,
And the work of the Seasons cry undone:
Ah! what shall we do for a song to sing,
Who have known Beauty, and Love, and Spring?

When Love and Beauty wander away,
And a pale fear lies on the cheeks of youth,
When there's no more goal to strive for and pray,
And we live at the end of the world's untruth:
Ah! what shall we do for a heart to prove,
Who have known Beauty, and Spring, and Love?