RESOLVED TO LOVE.

1.

I WONDER that the grave and wife

Think of all us that love;

Whether our pretty fooleries

Their mirth or anger move;

They understand not breath that words does want; 5 Our fighs to them are infignificant.

II.

One of them faw me th' other day,
Touch the dear hand which I admire,
My foul was melting straight away,
And dropp'd before the fire.

This filly wife man, who pretends to know,

Afk'd why I look'd fo pale, and trembled fo?

III.

Another from my Mistress' door
Saw me with eyes all wat'ry come,
Nor could the hidden cause explore,

ΤΟ

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But thought fome smoke was in the room:

Such ign'rance from unwounded Learning came,
He knew tears made by smoke, but not by flame.

IV.

If learn'd in other things you be,

And have in love no skill,

For God's fake keep your arts from me,
For I'll be ign'rant still.

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Study or action others may embrace;

My love's my business, and my books her face.

The wifeft king who from his facred breaft
Pronounc'd all vanity, chose it for the best.

30

MY FATE.

I.

Go bid the Needle his dear North forfake,
To which with trembling rev'rence it does bend;
Go bid the ftones a journey upwards make;
Go bid th' ambitious flame no more ascend:
And when thefe falfe to their old motions prove,
Then shall I ceafe thee, thee alone, to love.

II.

The faft-link'd chain of everlafting Fate"
Does nothing tie more ftrong than me to you;
My fix'd love hangs not on your love or hate,
But will be still the fame whate'er you do.
You cannot kill my love with your disdain;
Wound it you may, and make it live in pain.

III.

Me mine example let the Stoicks ufe,
Their fad and cruel doctrine to maintain,

Let all Predeftinators me produce,

Who struggle with eternal bonds in vain :
This fire I'm born to, but 't is fhe must tell
Whether 't be beams of heav'n, or flames of hell.

IV.

You who men's fortunes in their faces read,
To find out mine, look not, alas! on me;
But mark her face, and all the features heed,
For only there is writ my deftiay:

Or if ftars fhow it, gaze not on the skies,
But study th' aftrology of her eyes.

V.

If thou find there kind and propitious rays,
What Mars or Saturn threaten I'll not fear;
I well believe the fate of mortal days

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Is writ in heav'n, but, oh! my heav'n is there.

What can men learn from stars they scarce can see? Two great lights rule the world, and her two me. 30

THE HEART-BREAKING.

I.

Ir gave a piteous groan, and fo it broke;
In vain it fomething would have spoke;
The love within too strong for 't was,
Like poifon put into a Venice-glass.

II.

I thought that this fome remedy might prove, 5 But, oh! the mighty ferpent, Love,

Cut by this chance in pieces fmall,
In all still liv'd, and still it ftung in all.

III.

And now, alas! each little broken part
Feels the whole pain of all my heart,

And every smallest corner ftill

Lives with the torment which the whole did kill.

IV.

Ev'n fo rude armies, when the field they quit,

And into feveral quarters get,

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Each troop does fpoil and ruin more,

Than all join'd in one body did before.

V.

How many loves reign in my bofom now?
How many loves! yet all of you:

Thus have I chang'd, with evil fate,
My monarch-love into a tyrant-flate.

THE USURPATION.

1.

THOU 'adft to my foul no title or pretence;
I was mine own, and free,

Till I had giv'n myself to thee;

But thou haft kept me flave and pris'ner since.
Well, fince fo infolent thou 'rt grown,

Fond Tyrant! I'll depose thee from thy throne:
Such outrages must not admitted be

In an elective monarchy.

II.

Part of my heart by gift did to thee fall;
My country, kindred, and my beft
Acquaintance, were to share the reft;

But thou, their cov'tous neighbour, drav's out all:
Nay, more, thou mak'ft me worship thee,
And wouldst the rule of my religion be.
Was ever tyrant claim'd fuch pow'r as you,
To be both Emp'rour and Pope too?

III.

The publick mis'ries and my private fate
Deferve fome tears; but greedy thou
(Infatiate Maid!) wilt not allow

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That I one drop from thee fhould alienate :
Nor wilt thou grant my fins a part,

Tho' the fole caufe of most of them thou art;
Counting my tears thy tribute and thy due,
Since first mine eyes I gave to you.

IV.

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Thou all my joys and all my hopes doft claim;

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Thou ragest like a fire in me,

Converting all things into thee;

Nought can refift or not increafe the flame:

Nay, every grief and every fear

Thou doft devour, unless thy ftamp it bear.

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Thy prefence, like the crowned bafilifk's breath,

All other ferpents puts to death.