PA 
 
 8580 
 
 B3 
 
 1901 
 
 MAIN 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 *B 73M flSl 
 
 B ASI A 
 
 OF 
 
 JOANNES SECUNDUS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/basiaofjoannesseOOjanurich 
 
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 THE 
 
 B A S I A 
 
 JOANNES SECUNDUS 
 
 JJUJVSZATED mTO £NGLISff ^VERSE 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 Ti^EPITHALAMIUM) 
 
 WITH THE ENGLISH VERSIONS 
 OF 
 
 GEORGE OGLB 
 
 PREFATORV MEMOIR, 
 BY 
 
 AVALLACE RICE-r^ 
 
 ( VNIV 
 
 or TMt 
 
 VN1VER8IT 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 PI^INTED FOR FRANK MORRIS 
 
 AT THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 
 MDCCCCI 
 
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 COPYRIGHT. 1901, BY F. M. MORRIS. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 
 
 UT of the sombre writings of the dying 
 Middle Ages and blither notes of the 
 budding Renaissance in Teutonic Europe, 
 a single tune rises and swells bird-like 
 from the throat of Joannes Secundus 
 Nicolaius (in English, John Nichols, 2d). 
 A score of contemporary singers of his 
 own nation are forgotten, the only one besides himself 
 who is still remembered, Joannes Jovianus Pontanus, owing 
 his shadowy fame to the fact that he is thought to have 
 been the master of his greater pupil. What it is that 
 has preserved the reputation of this classical scholar and 
 diplomatist can be seen in the translations here subjoined, 
 an ardency of sentiment, a vividness of phrase, a buoyancy 
 of spirit, a delicacy of epithet, combining to make his Latin 
 measures excellent poetry even when poured from the cup 
 of one language to another. 
 
 Joannes Secundus was born at The Hague on the tenth 
 day of November, 15 11, on the very day Martin Luther 
 was celebrating his twenty-eighth birth anniversary in the 
 city of Rome, and there acquiring the knowledge of real- 
 ities which led soon after to his protest and revolt. By 
 coincidence, the day of the birth of these two men of note 
 is also that which brought Oliver Goldsmith (1728) and 
 Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759) in the world 
 
 14300^^ 
 
they have so adorned, making a quartette not easily to be for- 
 gotten. Of them all, the Dutch poet came of the most dis- 
 tinguished family. His father was Nicolaus Everardus 
 (in English, Nicholas Evarts), a civil lawyer of such 
 attainments that he became the favourite of the Emperor 
 Charles V., and his mother Eliza Bladella, a woman of 
 many accomplishments and virtues, duly transmitted to no 
 less than five of her sons and daughters. 
 
 Nicolaus Everardus held many distinguished positions 
 during his life. Born at Middelburg, on the island of 
 Walcheren, a part of the province of Zealand, thirty years 
 before the discovery of America, he became, while yet a 
 young man, the counsellor of the Emperor Maximilian, 
 whose grandson and successor, the great Charles, continued 
 his favour. He became a member of the Grand Parlia- 
 ment of Mechlin, was President of the States of Holland 
 and Zealand, was long at The Hague in places of honour, 
 and died at Mechlin in the seventieth year of his age, his 
 more distinguished son surviving him a little more than 
 four years. 
 
 Of the children of this worthy couple, the eldest, Petrus 
 Nicolaius (Peter Nichols), became a member of the order 
 of Premonstrists, or White Canons, and was a doctor both 
 of divinity and of the civil law ; Everardus Nicolaius (Evert 
 Nichols) attained the distinction of knighthood in the 
 Order of the Golden Fleece, as a reward for his services 
 as a member and President of the Grand Parliament of 
 
Friesland and Mechlin ; Nicolaus Nlcolams, styled Gradus 
 from his birth at Louvaine, was similarly honoured, having 
 been treasurer of the province of Brabant and a Privy Coun- 
 sellor; Hadrianus Marius Nicolaius (Adrian Nichols) also 
 attained knighthood and a seat in the Privy Council, and 
 was chancellor of the province of Guelderland, holding state 
 in the city of Zutphen, where Sir Philip Sydney was later 
 to die "thirsting, a humbler need to slake;" and one of 
 the daughters, at least, Isabella Nicolaia, was a noted clas- 
 sical scholar in the cloister where her life was spent. 
 
 Joannes Secundus, his customary surname taken because 
 of a paternal uncle of the same name, was born when 
 The Hague was little more than a village, though it 
 had long been a princely seat. Ferdinand was ruling in 
 Spain, Isabella having died seven years before; Julius II. 
 was Pope, to be succeeded within less than two years by 
 Giovanni, second son of Lorenzo de* Medici, the Magnifi- 
 cent, as Leo X. ; Lewis XII. was King of France, his 
 cousin, Francis I., coming to the throne four years later; 
 Henry VIII. was in the third year of his reign and the 
 twenty-first of his age, Thomas Cromwell — Wolsey*s and 
 Shakespeare's Cromwell — being a wool merchant in that 
 Middelburg which Everardus had recently quitted. It was 
 a time of change in all the European world. Wynkin de 
 Worde was continuing the work of Caxton in Fleet Street, 
 and everywhere the printing-press was carrying on the work 
 of enlightenment. Margaret of Navarre was composing the 
 
 i3iiiM«=-^Jt;aL»: 
 
Heptameron, Rabelais silent in his convent of Cordeliers 
 at Fontenay-le-Comte, Erasmus introducing Greek learn- 
 ing in England with the aid of Sir Thomas More, Loyola 
 still a mere soldier ; while Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, 
 were at the summit of their power. It was a time worth 
 being born in. 
 
 Joannes Secundus exhibited the precocity of genius, and 
 when ten years old was already a painter, sculptor, and 
 poet. His youth was spent at Mechlin, and his education 
 was superb. When he came to his twenty-first year he 
 was sent to Bourges to obtain his degrees in the civil and 
 canon law, studying under Andreas Alciatus, himself a poet 
 of no small rank in those days, his " Emblems " being still 
 extant. Upon the return of the youthful scholar with aca- 
 demic honours thick upon him to Mechlin in 1533, he 
 found the faithless Julia, to whom his first book of Elegies 
 was dedicated, wedded to another. Venerilla was taken in 
 her place ; but his career was still before him, and he bade 
 farewell to Holland, family influence obtaining for him the 
 post of secretary to his Eminence Joannes Tavera, Car- 
 dinal Archbishop of Toledo. Here Venerilla was forgotten 
 for Neaera, a Spanish beauty who inspired The Basia, this 
 masterpiece being inscribed to her. The passion and devo- 
 tion in its measures may well have been derived from the 
 almost tropical beauty which is the birthright of the ardent 
 women of New Castile. 
 
 In 1535, Joannes accompanied his imperial master. 
 
 8 
 
 
Charles V., to Tunis, where war was waging against Barba- 
 rossa, a pestiferous pirate. But there were no promptings to 
 write of battle from this, and a severe attack of fever the year 
 previous had unfitted him for life in the field, albeit he had 
 been a volunteer for the expedition. Upon his return to 
 Toledo, he was sent as ambassador from his patron, the 
 archbishop, to congratulate the Pontiff, Paul III., Ales- 
 sandro Farnese, upon his accession to the throne of St. 
 Peter. Stricken by fever again, the young man was unable 
 to complete his journey, and thereupon left the heated 
 south for the more congenial climate of Utrecht, where he 
 was given the secretaryship under the Right Reverend 
 Georgius Egmundus, bishop of that diocese. Meanwhile 
 the fame of the young man as a poet had reached high 
 places, and this, with his approved capacity for business, 
 caused the First Prothonotary of the Empire to send for 
 him. The offer was a flattering one, being nothing less 
 than the personal charge of the Latin letters of the great 
 emperor himself. Joannes had commended himself to the 
 Catholic party by his epitaph upon Sir Thomas More, exe- 
 cuted in July, 1535, at London, for refusing to renounce 
 his obedience to the Pope, and nothing could have been 
 more promising than his prospects at that time. 
 
 But it was necessary that Joannes should confer with the 
 Bishop of Utrecht, and to that end he went to Tournay, in 
 Hainault, where his patron was Abbot of the Benedictine 
 monastery. Here the third attack of fever seized him, and 
 
 M*««li)^«tfN 
 
here he died on the eighth day of October, 1536. He was 
 buried in the abbey church, and tfee following epitaph 
 inscribed over his tomb : 
 
 lOANNI HAGENSI 
 
 SECRETARIO REVERENDISS. 
 
 DOMINI TRAIECTENSIS ET 
 
 ABBATI^ HVIVS PRiELATI 
 
 FRATRES ET SORORES POSVERE 
 
 OBIIT A. CI3I0XXXVI 
 
 VIII KAL. OCTOB. 
 
 Furious days were soon upon the world, and the slight 
 tribute to the poet dead in his first flush of youth was not 
 permitted to go unviolatcd by the enemies of the faith in 
 which he was born. Destroyed in the civil wars which 
 gave the Low Countries so many an evil year, the epitaph 
 was restored later by the pious order of the Abbot Caro- 
 lus de Par, to read as follows : 
 
 lOANNI SECVNDO HAGIENSI 
 
 POET^ CELEBERRIMO ET NVLLI SECVNDO 
 
 CVIVS TVMVLVM HiERETICORVM FVRORE 
 
 ANNO CIOIDLXVI VIOLATVM CAROLVS DE 
 
 PAR ABBAS OB TANTI VIRI MEMORIAM 
 
 RESTAVRARI C. 
 
 OBIIT CIOIOXXVI KALEND. OCTOB. 
 
 A SECRETIS GEORGII EGMONTANI 
 
 TRAIECTENS. EPISCOPI HVIVS LOCI PRO- 
 
 ABBATIS 
 
 10 
 
Within this life which did not round out its twenty-fifth 
 year there was much accomplished. With the fame of 
 Joannes Secundus are bound up a number of separate 
 works, including three volumes of Elegies, two of Epistles, 
 one each of Odes, Epigrams, Epitaphs, and Songs, besides 
 a volume of verse by his brothers. These were edited by 
 Scriverus, and published in octavo first in 1619. The 
 second edition, a duodecimo, of 1631, is, as in so many 
 cases, the best edition ; another duodecimo following twenty 
 years later. The finest and most valuable book concern- 
 ing his work was published in Paris by Dorat, with the 
 Latin partly translated and partly adapted into French, the 
 whole so beautifully embellished with illustrations and en- 
 gravings that it became a bibliographical treasure imme- 
 diately upon its appearance, is held in the highest estimation 
 at the present time, and is to be obtained, if at all, with the 
 greatest difficulty. 
 
 In English it appears to have been Thomas Stanley, 
 author of " Lives of the Philosophers,*' who first thought 
 the works of Joannes Secundus worthy translation into the 
 vernacular. A portion of The Basia was included by him 
 with translations from Anacreon, Bion, and Moschus — a 
 grouping significant of the esteem in which the work of the 
 later Latinist was regarded, placing it on an apparent level 
 with that of the three greater Greeks. It is worth while 
 transcribing Stanley's version of the fourth Basium, to 
 show his rendering: 
 
 1 1 
 
 
" 'Tis no Kiss my Fair bestows, 
 Nectar 'tis whence new Life flows 5 
 All the Sweets which nimble Bees 
 In their ozier Treasuries 
 With unequalled Art repose. 
 In one Kiss her Lips disclose. 
 These, if many I should take, 
 Soon would me immortal make, 
 RaisM to the divine Abodes 
 And the Banquets of the Gods. 
 
 "Be not, then, too lavish. Fair! 
 But this heav'nly Treasure spare, 
 'Less thou'lt too immortal be : 
 For without thy Companie, 
 What to me are the Abodes 
 Or the Banquets of the Gods ? " 
 
 In 1 73 1, certain partial translations of The Basia having 
 appeared from the hands, respectively, of Messrs. Fenton 
 and Ward, Bernard Lintott published an anonymous trans- 
 lation of The Basia complete, which is now known to be 
 from the hand of George Ogle, who died in 1746 in the 
 forty-third year of his age. The quality of this is abun- 
 dantly shown by the Epithalamium done by him, translat- 
 ing that of Joannes Secundus, and here included. This 
 was followed in 1775 by another translation of The Basia 
 and certain other works of Joannes, also anonymous. This 
 
 la 
 
 
reached a third edition in 1778, being embellished by a fine 
 copperplate engraving of Artemis and Endymion, a por- 
 trait of Joannes, both by Bartolozzi, a rubricated title-page, 
 and printed for J. Bew in Paternoster Row. It is from 
 this that The Basia complete are transcribed here, the origi- 
 nal Latin which was published on the opposite pages of 
 this hardly obtainable edition being omitted. 
 
 It is not now needful to descant upon the literary quality 
 of such work. Scholars in every century since the lamen- 
 table death of the young poet have borne brave testimony 
 to a worth which cannot be concealed even in translation. 
 It is of his writings that the learned Frenchman said " Le 
 style plein, elegant, et tendre dans tous ses ouvrages," 
 and something more than echoes of this high praise are 
 abundant in English. The treatment of the subject is 
 that of the poet's time, a period in which literary conven- 
 tions were not so strict. This may be seen in a lyric by 
 Shakespeare, the second stanza of which was added by 
 Fletcher, treating of a similar topic and published almost a 
 century later : 
 
 " Take, O take those Lips away, 
 That so sweetly were forsworn ; 
 And those Eyes, the Break of Day, 
 
 Lights that do outshine the Morn 5 
 But my Kisses bring again, 
 Seals of Love, but seal'd in Vain ! 
 
 13 
 
 i j J ii | ii - .-. ■! ■ ■_ ' ■ 11^ ' 
 
" Hide, O hide those Hills of Snow, 
 
 Which thy frozen Bosom bears ; 
 On whose Tops the Pinks that grow 
 
 Are of those that April wears; 
 But my poor Heart first set free, 
 Bound in icy Chains by Thee ! " 
 
 Ben Jonson's beautiful " Drink to Me Only with 
 Thine Eyes " is too well known to require quotation, and 
 bears out the theory, if one were needed, that to sing of 
 kisses is to imply kissing, and in them the whole of pas- 
 sionate love. It is said that there are peoples in the world 
 who do not know the practice ; but it is notable that all of 
 them lag behind in the pageant of progress. Even if they 
 were to take the vanguard, it is safe to say that so long as 
 one country still lives up to its osculatory advantages. The 
 Basia will be known and admired. 
 
 Wallace Rice. 
 
 WooDLAWN Park, Illinois, 
 May 8, 1901. 
 
 14 
 
 ^"^^g eir. 
 
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 N attempt to transfer unblemished into 
 the English language the numberless beau- 
 ties with which the "Basia" of Secundus 
 abound must be reckoned daring indeed ; 
 lan attempt in which I am not vain enough 
 to suppose I have succeeded : all I can 
 hope to have effected by this weak effort 
 of my pen, is, to have drawn a deserving author from that 
 oblivion in which he has been so long buried. And it 
 were to be wished that what I have done might prove an 
 incentive to some other person, whose abilities may render 
 him more capable, and whose occupations in life may better 
 permit him, to do that justice to Secundus which mine will 
 not, by giving the world a more elegant translation of this 
 singular and truly beautiful part of his works, or of somq 
 other part, as his fancy may lead him. 
 
 For my versification I submit it to the candour of the 
 reader ; it was begun as a mere matter of amusement, nor 
 had I any intention of publishing it, till I found that I had 
 imperceptibly finished the whole of the " Basia ; " when, 
 considering how little this author was known, yet how much 
 he merited attention, I was tempted to offer to the world 
 my translation of his " Kisses," indifferent as it may be. 
 
 It remains that I should make some apology for the 
 pieces added at the end of this work. It is true they can^ 
 
not boast all the beauties of Secundus ; yet they are pretty 
 enough, and may please some of those who take a delight 
 in poems of this nature ; but even if we allow them only 
 a scanty share of merit, we must at least allow them the 
 advantage of serving as a foil to the superior excellence of 
 the Dutch poet. 
 
 I 
 
 i6 
 
 wm 
 
 mmm 
 
EPIGRAMS 
 
 17 
 
 ./ >iliM(fe! "IL "' 
 
EPIGRAM 
 
 O F 
 
 JOANNES SECUNDUS 
 
 UPON HIS BOOK OF 
 
 KISSES 
 
 [YCINNA scorns my kisses; they 
 
 are chaste ! 
 Enerv'd I seem in her experienc'd 
 
 taste : 
 And ^lia calls me, " Bard with lan- 
 guid strings : " 
 
 She that to love in streets her ofP rings brings. 
 
 Perhaps, my utmost strength they seek to know ! 
 
 And vigour prove ! — Go, hateful wantons, go ! 
 
 My strength, my vigour, long despair to find ; 
 
 For you these kisses never were designed ; 
 
 Never for you were these soft measures wrought : 
 
 Read me, ye tender brides of boys untaught ! 
 
 Read me, of brides untaught ye tender boys ! 
 
 Yet new to Venus' sweetly-varying joys ! 
 
 19 
 
'% 
 
 'M^ 
 
EPIGRAM 
 
 OF 
 
 JOANNES SECUNDUS 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 GRAMMARIANS 
 Why he writes wantonly 
 
 ^HY thus I sport in wanton-measur'd 
 
 strains ; 
 [Why love, in ev'ry verse, luxuriant, 
 
 reigns ? 
 To fright dull pedants, learnedly un- 
 bred; 
 
 And scholiasts banish, unpolitely read. 
 Shou'd I my voice to mighty Caesar raise ; 
 Or tempt, of saint-like men, the sacred praise : 
 What notes (oppressive weight !) must I endure ; 
 What comments, obvious readings to obscure ? 
 Exposed, alas ! to what unlettered strains ? 
 To boys the certain cause of future pains ? 
 
 21 
 
EPIGRAM 
 
 But while on kisses I employ my song ; 
 Kisses ! or moist or dry, or short or long ; 
 Me, summon the unmarried youth to aid ! 
 Me, bent on joy, the newly married maid! 
 Me, the gay bard, whom lighter studies please; 
 Wisely indulging in delicious ease ! 
 But from these sports, ye savage herd, abstain ! 
 These never with unhallowed hands profane ! 
 Nor turn to grief what we to mirth design ! 
 Lest, punished for some soft perverted line, 
 Wrong'd innocence, with tears unjustly shed, 
 ** Wish the cold earth lie heavy on the dead." 
 
 22 
 
THE 
 
 KISSES 
 
 o P 
 
 JOANNES SECUNDUS 
 
 23 
 
KISSES 
 
 25 
 
 p ill I II ■ ■> I I I | ii | ii 
 
 m A '^ '^ 
 
KISSES 
 
 KISS I 
 
 HEN young Ascanius, by the queen 
 
 of love. 
 Was borne to sweet Cythera's lofty 
 
 grove. 
 His languid limbs upon a couch she 
 laid, 
 
 A fragrant couch ! of new-blow^n vilets made ; 
 The blissful bow'r with shadowing roses crown'd. 
 And balmy-breathing airs diffused around. 
 
 The sleeping youth in silence she admir'd; 
 And, with remembrance of Adonis fir'd. 
 Strong and more strong her wonted flames return'd, 
 Thriird in each vein, and in her bosom burn'd. 
 How oft she wished, as she surveyed his charms. 
 Around his neck to throw her eager arms I 
 
 27 
 
KISS I 
 
 Oft would she say, admiring ev'ry grace, 
 
 ** Such was Adonis I such his lovely face ! " 
 
 But fearing lest this fond excess of joy 
 
 Might break the slumber of the beauteous boy. 
 
 On ev'ry rosebud that around him blow'd 
 
 A thousand nectar'd kisses she bestowed ; 
 
 And straight each opening bud, which late was white, 
 
 Blush'd a warm crimson to th' astonish' d sight : 
 
 Still in Dione's breast soft wishes rise. 
 
 Soft wishes ! vented with soft-whisper*d sighs I 
 
 Thus, by her lips unnumber'd roses pressed. 
 
 Kisses, unfolding in sweet bloom, confess' d ; 
 
 And, flush'd with rapture at each new-born kiss. 
 
 She felt her swelling soul o'erwhelm'd in bliss. 
 
 Now round this orb, soft-floating on the air. 
 The beauteous goddess speeds her radiant car : 
 As in gay pomp the harness'd cygnets fly. 
 Their snow-white pinions glitter thro' the sky ; 
 And like Triptolemus, whose bounteous hand 
 Strew'd golden plenty o'er the fertile land. 
 Fair Cytherea, as she flew along. 
 
 28 
 
KISS I 
 
 O'er the vast lap of Nature kisses flung : 
 
 Pleas'd from on high she view'd th' enchanted 
 
 ground. 
 And from her lips thrice fell a magic sound : 
 He gave to mortals corn on ev'ry plain ; 
 But she those sweets which mitigate my pain. 
 
 Hail, then, ye kisses ! that can best assuage 
 The pangs of love, and soften all its rage ! 
 Ye balmy kisses ! that from roses sprung ; 
 Roses ! on which the lips of Venus hung. 
 Lo ! I'm the bard, while o'er Pierian shades 
 The tuneful mountain rears its sacred heads. 
 While whisp'ring verdures skirt the laurell'd spring. 
 Whose fond, impassion' d muse of you shall sing ; 
 And Love, enraptur'd with the Latian name. 
 With that dear race from which your lineage came. 
 In Latian strains shall celebrate your praise. 
 And tell your high descent to future days. 
 
 29 
 
KISS II 
 
 IS round some neighboring elm the vine 
 Its am'rous tendrils loves to twine ; 
 As round the oak, in many a maze. 
 The ivy flings its gadding sprays : 
 Thus ! let me to your snowy breast, 
 [My dear Neaera ! thus be prest ; 
 
 While I as fondly in my arms, 
 
 Neaera ! clasp thy yielding charms ; 
 
 And, with one long, long kiss, improve 
 
 Our mutual ecstasies of love. 
 
 Should Ceres pour her plenteous hoard. 
 Should Bacchus crown the festive board. 
 Should balmy sleep luxurious spread 
 His downy pinions o'er my head; 
 Yet not for these my joys I'd break. 
 For these ! thy vermil lips forsake. 
 At length, when ruthless age denies 
 A longer bliss, and seals our eyes. 
 One bark shall waft our spirits o'er. 
 United, to the Stygian shore : 
 Then, passing thro' a transient night. 
 
 30 
 
KISS II 
 
 We'll enter soon those fields of light. 
 Where, breathing richest odours round, 
 A spring eternal paints the ground; 
 Where heroes once in valour prov'd. 
 And beauteous heroines once belov'd. 
 Again with mutual passion burn. 
 Feel all their wonted flames return ; 
 And now in sportive measures tread 
 The flow'ry carpet of the mead ; 
 Now sing the jocund, tuneful tale 
 Alternate in the myrtle vale : 
 Where ceaseless zephyrs fan the glade, 
 Soft-murm'ring thro' the laurel-shade ; 
 Beneath whose waving foliage grow 
 The vi'let sweet of purple glow. 
 The daffodil that breathes perfume. 
 And roses of immortal bloom ; 
 Where earth her fruits spontaneous yields. 
 Nor ploughshare cuts th' unfurrow'd fields. 
 
 Soon as we enter these abodes 
 Of happy souls, of demi-gods. 
 
 31 
 
KISS II 
 
 The blest shall all respectful rise. 
 And view us with admiring eyes ; 
 Shall seat us 'mid th' immortal throng. 
 Where I, renown'd for tender song. 
 Shall gain with Homer equal praise. 
 And share with him poetic bays ; 
 While thou, enthroned above the rest. 
 Wilt shine in beauty's train confest : 
 Nor shall the mistresses of Jove 
 Such partial honours disapprove ; 
 E'en Helen, tho' of race divine. 
 Will to thy charms her rank resign. 
 
 3* 
 
 
KISS III 
 
 NE kiss, enchanting maid ! " I 
 
 cry'd ; — 
 
 One little kiss ! and then adieu ! 
 Your lips, with luscious crimson 
 
 dyed. 
 
 To mine with trembling rapture 
 
 flew: 
 
 But quick those lips my lips forsake. 
 
 With wanton, tantalising jest ; 
 So starts some rustic from the snake 
 
 Beneath his heedless footstep prest : 
 
 Is this to grant the wish'd-for kiss ? — 
 Ah, no, my love ! — 'tis but to fire 
 
 The bosom with a transient bliss, 
 Enflaming unallay'd desire. 
 
 33 
 
KISS IV 
 
 IIS not a kiss you give, my love ! 
 
 jTis richest nectar from above ! 
 
 I A fragrant show'r of balmy dews. 
 
 Which thy sweet lips alone diffuse ! 
 
 'Tis ev ry aromatic breeze 
 'hat wafts from Afric's spicy trees ! 
 'Tis honey from the osier hive. 
 Which chymist bees with care derive 
 From all the newly-open'd flow'rs 
 That bloom in Cecrops' roseate bow'rs. 
 Or from the breathing sweets that grow 
 On fam'd Hymettus' thymy brow : 
 But if such kisses you bestow. 
 If from your lips such raptures flow. 
 Thus blest ! supremely blest by thee ! 
 Ere long I must immortal be ; 
 Must taste on earth those joys that wait 
 The banquets of celestial state. 
 Then cease thy bounty, dearest fair ! 
 Such precious gifts, then, spare ! oh spare ! 
 Or, if I must immortal prove. 
 Be thou immortal, too, my love I 
 
 34 
 
KISS IV 
 
 For, should the heav'nly powVs request 
 My presence at th* ambrosial feast ; 
 Nay, should they Jove himself dethrone. 
 And yield to me his radiant crown ; 
 rd scorn it all, nor would I deign 
 O'er golden realms of bliss to reign ; 
 Jove's radiant crown Fd scorn to wear. 
 Unless thou mightst such honours share ; 
 Unless thou, too, with equal sway, 
 Mightst rule with me the realms of day. 
 
 3S 
 
KISS V 
 
 HILE you, Nesera, close entwine 
 In frequent folds your frame with 
 
 mine; 
 And hanging o'er, to view confest. 
 Your neck, and gently-heaving breast ; 
 gj Down on my shoulders soft decline 
 Your beauties more than half divine ; 
 With wand'ring looks that o'er me rove. 
 And fire the melting soul with love : 
 
 While you, Neaera, fondly join 
 Your little pouting lips with mine. 
 And frolic bite your amVous swain. 
 Complaining soft if bit again ; 
 And sweetly-murm'ring pour along 
 The trembling accents of your tongue. 
 Your tongue ! now here now there that strays. 
 Now here now there delighted plays ; 
 That now my humid kisses sips. 
 Now wanton darts between my lips ; 
 And on my bosom raptur'd lie, 
 Venting the gently-whisper'd sigh ; 
 
 36 
 
KISS V 
 
 A sigh ! that kindles warm desires. 
 And kindly fans life's drooping fires ; 
 Soft as the zephyr's breezy wing. 
 And balmy as the breath of spring : 
 
 While you, sweet nymph ! with am'rous play. 
 In kisses suck my breath away ; 
 My breath ! with wasting warmth replete, 
 Parch'd by my breast's contagious heat ; 
 Till, breathing soft, you pour again 
 Returning life thro' ev'ry vein ; 
 And thus elude my passion's rage. 
 Love's burning fever thus assuage : 
 Sweet nymph ! whose sweets can best allay 
 Those fires that on my bosom prey ; 
 Sweet as the cool refreshing gale 
 That blows when scorching heats prevail ! 
 
 Then, more than blest, I fondly swear. 
 No pow'r can with love's pow'r compare ! 
 
 37 
 
KISS V 
 
 None in the starry court of Jove 
 Is greater than the god of love ! 
 If any can yet greater be. 
 Yes, my Neaera ! yes, 'tis thee ! " 
 
 38 
 
KISS VI 
 
 WO thousand kisses of the sweetest 
 kind, 
 
 'Twas once agreed, our mutual love 
 should bind ; 
 
 First from my lips a raptVous thou- 
 sand flowed. 
 Then you a thousand in your turn bestow'd ; 
 The promised numbers were fulfilled, I own. 
 But love suffic'd with numbers ne'er was known ! 
 What mortal strives to count each springing blade. 
 That spreads the surface of a grassy mead ? 
 Who prays for number' d ears of rip'ning grain. 
 When lavish Ceres yellows o'er the plain ? 
 Or to a scanty hundred wou'd confine 
 The clustering grapes, when Bacchus loads the vine ? 
 Who asks the guardian of the honied store 
 To grant a thousand bees, and grant no more ? 
 Or tells the drops, while o'er some thirsty field 
 The liquid stores are from above distill' d ? 
 When Jove with fury hurls the moulded hail, 
 And earth and sea destructive storms assail. 
 Or when he bids, from his tempestuous sky. 
 
 39 
 
 mm 
 
 ■lull* iraw 
 
KISS VI 
 
 The winds unchain'd with wasting horror fly. 
 
 The god ne'er heeds what harvests he may spoil. 
 
 Nor yet regards each desolated soil : 
 
 So, when its blessings bounteous Heav'n ordains. 
 
 It ne'er with sparing hand the good restrains ; 
 
 Evils in like abundance, too, it show'rs ; 
 
 Well suits profusion with immortal pow'rs ! 
 
 Then since such gifts with heav'nly minds agree. 
 
 Shed, goddess-like, your blandishments on me; 
 
 And say, Neaera ! for that form divine 
 
 Speaks thee descended of aetherial line; 
 
 Say, goddess ! than that goddess lovelier far 
 
 Who roams o'er ocean in her pearly car ; 
 
 Your kisses, boons celestial ! why withhold ? 
 
 Or why by scanty numbers are they told ? 
 
 Still you ne'er count, hard-hearted maid ! those 
 
 sighs 
 Which in my lab' ring breast incessant rise ; 
 Nor yet those lucid drops of tender woe. 
 Which down my cheeks in quick succession flow. 
 Yes, dearest life ! your kisses number all ; 
 And number, too, my sorrowing tears that fall : 
 
 40 
 
«VH 
 
 KISS VI 
 
 Or, If you count not all the tears, my fair ! 
 
 To count the kisses sure you must forbear. 
 
 But let thy lips now soothe a lover's pain ; 
 
 (Yet griefs like mine what soothings shall restrain ! ) 
 
 If tears unnumbered pity can regard, 
 
 Unnumber'd kisses must each tear reward. 
 
 41 
 
KISS VII 
 
 g/ISSES told by hundreds o'er! 
 Thousands told by thousands more ! 
 Millions ! countless millions ! then. 
 Told by millions o'er again ! 
 Countless ! as the drops that glide 
 In the ocean's billowy tide, 
 
 Countless ! as yon orbs of light 
 
 Spangled o'er the vault of night, 
 
 I'll with ceaseless love bestow 
 
 On those cheeks of crimson glow. 
 
 On those lips of gentle swell. 
 
 On those eyes where raptures dwell. 
 
 But when circled in thy arms. 
 As I'm panting o'er thy charms. 
 O'er thy cheeks of rosy bloom, 
 O'er thy lips that breathe perfume. 
 O'er thine eyes so sweetly-bright. 
 Shedding soft-expressive light. 
 Then, nor cheeks of rosy bloom. 
 Nor thy lips that breathe perfume. 
 
 42 
 
KISS VII 
 
 Nor thine eyes, expressive light. 
 Bless thy lover's envious sight ; 
 Nor that soothing smile, w^hich cheers 
 All his tender hopes and fears : 
 For, as radiant Phoebus streams 
 O'er the globe w^ith placid beams. 
 Whirling thro' th' aetherial way 
 The fiery-axled car of day. 
 And from the tempestuous sky. 
 While the rapid coursers fly. 
 All the stormy clouds are driv'n. 
 Which deform'd the face of heav'n ; 
 So, thy golden smile, my fair ! 
 Chases ev'ry am'rous care ; 
 Dries the torrents of mine eyes. 
 Calms my fond, tumultuous sighs. 
 
 Oh ! how^ emulous the strife 
 'Tvv^ixt my lips and eyes, sw^eet life ! 
 Of thy charms are these possest. 
 Those are envious till they're blest : 
 
 43 
 
KISS VII 
 
 Think not, then, that, in my love, 
 ril be rivaird e'en by Jove, 
 When such jealous conflicts rise 
 'Twixt my very lips and eyes. 
 
 44 
 
KISS VIII 
 
 H ! what ungovern'd rage, declare, 
 iNeaera, too capricious fair ! 
 I What unreveng'd, unguarded wrong. 
 Could urge thee thus to wound my 
 
 tongue ? 
 
 Perhaps you deem th' afflictive pains 
 Too trifling, which my heart sustains ; 
 Nor think enough my bosom smarts 
 With all the sure, destructive darts 
 Incessant sped from evVy charm ; 
 That thus your wanton teeth must harm. 
 Must harm that little tuneful thing. 
 Which wont so oft thy praise to sing ; 
 What time the morn has streak' d the skies. 
 Or ev'ning's faded radiance dies ; 
 Thro' painful days consuming-slow. 
 Thro' ling' ring nights of am'rous woe. 
 
 This tongue, thou know'st, has oft extoU'd 
 Thy hair in shining ringlets roU'd, 
 Thine eyes with tender passion bright. 
 
 45 
 
KISS VIII 
 
 Thy swelling breast of purest white. 
 Thy taper neck of polish' d grace. 
 And all the beauties of thy face. 
 Beyond the lucid orbs above. 
 Beyond the starry throne of Jove ; 
 Extoird them in such lofty lays ! 
 That gods with envy heard the praise. 
 
 Oft has it call'd thee evVy name 
 Which boundless rapture taught to frame 
 My life ! my joy ! my soul's desire ! 
 All that my wish cou'd e'er require ! 
 My pretty Venus ! and my love ! 
 My gentle turtle ! and my dove ! 
 Till Cypria's self with envy heard 
 Each partial, each endearing word. 
 
 Say, beauteous tyrant ! dost delight 
 To wound this tongue in wanton spite ? 
 Because, alas ! too well aware 
 That ev'ry wrong it yet could bear 
 Ne'er urg'd it once in angry strain 
 
 46 
 
 I 
 
KISS VIII 
 
 Of thy unkindness to complain ; 
 
 But sufF'ring patient all its harms. 
 
 Still wou*d it sing thy matchless charms! 
 
 Sing the soft lustre of thine eye ! 
 
 Sing thy sweet lips of rosy dye ! 
 
 Nay, still those guilty teeth 'twould sing! 
 
 Whence all its cruel mischiefs spring : 
 
 E'en now it lisps, in fait' ring lays. 
 
 While yet it bleeds, Neaera's praise : 
 
 Thus, beauteous tyrant ! you control. 
 
 Thus sway my fond, enamour' d soul I 
 
 47 
 
KISS IX 
 
 EASE thy sweet, thy balmy kisses ; 
 
 Cease thy many-wreathed smiles ; 
 Cease thy melting, murmVing blisses ; 
 
 Cease thy fond, bewitching wiles : 
 
 On my bosom soft-reclin'd. 
 Cease to pour thy tender joys : 
 Pleasure's limits are confin'd. 
 Pleasure oft-repeated cloys. 
 
 Sparingly your bounty use ; 
 
 When I ask for kisses nine, 
 Sev'n at least you must refuse. 
 
 And let only two be mine : 
 
 Yet let these be neither long. 
 
 Nor delicious sweets respire ! 
 But like those which virgins young 
 
 Artless give their aged sire : 
 
 Such ! as, with a sister's love. 
 Beauteous Dian may bestow 
 
 48 
 
KISS IX 
 
 On the radiant son of Jove, 
 Phoebus of the silver bow. 
 
 Tripping-light, with wanton grace. 
 
 Now my lips disordered fly. 
 And in some retired place 
 
 Hide thee from my searching eye : 
 
 Then in sportive, am'rous play, 
 Victor-like, I'll seize my love ; 
 
 Seize thee ! as the bird of prey 
 Pounces on a trembling dove. 
 
 Each recess I'll traverse o'er. 
 
 Where I think thou liest conceal'd ; 
 
 Ev'ry covert I'll explore. 
 
 Till my wanton's all revealed. 
 
 Now your arms submissive-raising, 
 
 Round my neck those arms you'll throw ; 
 
 Now sev'n kisses sweetly-pleasing 
 For your freedom you'll bestow : 
 
 49 
 
KISS IX 
 
 But those venal sev'n are vain ; — 
 
 Sev'n-times-sev'n's the price, sweet maid ! 
 
 Thou my pris ner shalt remain. 
 Till the balmy ransom's paid. 
 
 Paying, then, the forfeit due. 
 
 By thy much-lov'd beauties swear, 
 
 Faults like these you'll still pursue. 
 Faults ! which kisses can repair. 
 
 50 
 
KISS X 
 
 N various kisses various charms I 
 
 find. 
 For changeful fancy loves each change- 
 ful kind : 
 'Whene'er with mine thy humid lips 
 unite. 
 
 Then humid kisses with their sweets delight ; 
 From ardent lips so ardent kisses please, 
 For glowing transports often spring from these. 
 What joy ! to kiss those eyes that wanton rove. 
 Then catch the glances of returning love ; 
 Or clinging to the cheek of crimson glow. 
 The bosom, shoulder, or the neck of snow. 
 What pleasure ! tender passion to assuage. 
 And see the traces of our am'rous rage 
 On the soft neck or blooming cheek exprest. 
 On the white shoulder, or still whiter breast. 
 'Twixt yielding lips, in ev'ry thrilling kiss. 
 To dart the trembling tongue — what matchless bliss ! 
 Inhaling-sweet each other's mingling breath. 
 While love lies gasping in the arms of death ! 
 While soul with soul in ecstasy unites. 
 
 51 
 
KISS X 
 
 Intranc'd, impassioned with the fond delights ! 
 From thee receiv'd, or giv'n to thee, my love ! 
 Alike to me those kisses grateful prove ; 
 The kiss that's rapid, or prolonged with art. 
 The fierce, the gentle, equal joys impart. 
 But mark ; — be all my kisses, beauteous maid ! 
 With diff'rent kisses from thy lips repaid ; 
 Then varying raptures shall from either flow. 
 As varying kisses either shall bestow : 
 And let the first, who with an unchang'd kiss 
 Shall cease to thus diversify the bliss. 
 Observe, with looks in meek submission dress'd. 
 That law by which this forfeiture's expressed : 
 " As many kisses as each lover gave. 
 As each might in return again receive. 
 So many kisses, from the vanquished side. 
 The victor claims, so many ways applied.'* 
 
 52 
 
KISS XI 
 
 OME think my kisses too luxurious 
 told. 
 
 Kisses ! they say, not known to sires 
 of old: 
 
 But, while entranc'd on thy soft 
 neck I lie. 
 And o er thy lips in tender transport die. 
 Shall I then ask, dear life ! perplexed in vain. 
 Why rigid cynics censure thus my strain ? 
 Ah, no ! thy blandishments so raptVous prove. 
 That every ravish'd sense is lost in love ; 
 Blest with those blandishments, divine I seem. 
 And all Elysium paints the blissful dream." 
 Neaera heard ; — then, smiling, instant threw 
 Around my neck her arm of fairest hue ; 
 And kiss'd me fonder, more voluptuous far. 
 Than beauty's queen e'er kiss'd the god of war : 
 " What ! (cries the nymph,) and shall my amVous 
 
 bard 
 Pedantic wisdom's stern decree regard ? 
 Thy cause must be at my tribunal tried. 
 None but Neaera can the point decide." 
 
 53 
 
KISS XII 
 
 Verse 
 
 lODEST matrons, maidens, say. 
 Why thus turn your looks away? 
 Frolic feats of lawless love. 
 Of the lustful powVs above ; 
 Forms obscene, that shock the sight. 
 In my verse I ne'er recite ; 
 nought indecent reigns ; 
 
 Guiltless are my tender strains ; 
 
 Such as pedagogues austere 
 
 Might with strict decorum hear. 
 
 Might, with no licentious speech. 
 
 To their youth reproachless teach. 
 
 I, chaste vot'ry of the nine ! 
 
 Kisses sing of chaste design : 
 
 Maids and matrons yet, with rage. 
 
 Frown upon my blameless page ; 
 
 Frown, because some wanton word 
 
 Here and there by chance occurr'd. 
 
 Or the cheated fancy caught 
 
 Some obscure, tho* harmless thought. 
 
 Hence, ye prudish matrons ! hence. 
 
 Squeamish maids devoid of sense ! 
 
 54 
 
KISS XII 
 
 And shall these in virtue dare 
 With my virtuous maid compare ? 
 She ! who in the bard w^ill prize 
 What she'll in his lays despise ; 
 Wantonness with love agrees. 
 But reserve in verse must please. 
 
 55 
 
KISS XIII 
 
 ITH am'rous strife exanimate I lay. 
 
 Around your neck my languid arm 
 
 I threw; 
 My trembling heart had just forgot 
 
 to play, 
 
 Its^ vital spirit from my bosom flew : 
 
 The Stygian lake ; the dreary realms below. 
 To which the sun a cheering beam denies ; 
 
 Old Charon's boat, slow-wand'ring to and fro. 
 Promiscuous pass'd before my swimming eyes : 
 
 When you, Neaera ! with your humid breath. 
 
 O'er my parch'd lips the deep-fetch'd kiss bestow'd ; 
 
 Sudden, my fleeting soul return' d from death. 
 And freightless hence th' infernal pilot row'd. 
 
 Yet soft, — for, oh ! my erring senses stray ; — 
 Not quite unfreighted to the Stygian shore 
 
 Old Charon steer' d his lurid bark away. 
 My plaintive shade he to the Manes bore. 
 
 56 
 
KISS XIII 
 
 Then since my soul can here no more remain, 
 A part of thine, sweet life ! that loss supplies ; 
 
 But what this feeble fabric must sustain. 
 If of thy soul that part its aid denies ? 
 
 And much I fear : — for, struggling to be free. 
 Oft from its new abode it fain wou'd roam ; 
 
 Oft seeks, impatient to return to thee. 
 Some secret pass to gain its native home. 
 
 Unless thy fost'ring breath retards its flight. 
 It now prepares to quit this falling frame ; 
 
 Haste, then ; to mine thy clingy lips unite. 
 And let one spirit feed each vital flame ! 
 
 Till, after frequent ecstasies of bliss. 
 
 Mutual, unsating to th' impassion' d heart. 
 
 From bodies thus conjoined, in one long kiss. 
 That single life which nourished both shall part. 
 
 57 
 
KISS XIV 
 
 HOSE tempting lips, of scarlet glow, 
 Why pout with fond, bewitching 
 art? 
 
 For to those lips, Neaera ! know. 
 My lips shall not one kiss impart. 
 
 Perhaps you'd have me greatly prize. 
 Hard-hearted fair ! your precious kiss ; 
 
 But learn, proud mortal ! I despise 
 Such cold, such unimpassion'd bliss. 
 
 Think'st thou I calmly feel the flame 
 That all my rending bosom fires ? 
 
 And patient bear, thro' all my frame, 
 The pangs of unallay'd desires ? 
 
 Ah ! no ; — but turn not thus aside 
 Those tempting lips, of scarlet glow ! 
 
 Nor yet avert, with angry pride. 
 
 Those eyes, from whence such raptures flow ! 
 
 S8 
 
KISS XIV 
 
 Forgive the past, sweet-natur'd maid ! 
 
 My kisses, love ! are all thy own ; 
 Then let my lips o'er thine be laid. 
 
 O'er thine ! more soft than softest down ! 
 
 59 
 
KISS XV 
 
 H' Idalian boy, to pierce Nesera's 
 heart. 
 
 Had bent his bow, had chose the 
 fatal dart; 
 
 But when the child, in wonder lost, 
 survey' d 
 
 That brow, o'er which your sunny tresses play'd ! 
 Those cheeks, that blush' d the rose's warmest dye ! 
 That streamy languish of your lucid eye ! 
 That bosom, too, with matchless beauty bright ! 
 Scarce Cypria's own could boast so pure a white ! 
 Tho' mischief urg'd him first to wound my fair. 
 Yet partial fondness urg'd him now to spare ; 
 But, doubting still, he linger'd to decide; 
 At length resolv'd, he flung the shaft aside : 
 Then rush'd impetuous to thy circling arms. 
 And hung voluptuous o'er thy heav'nly charms : 
 There, as the boy in wanton folds was laid. 
 His lips on thine in varied kisses play'd ; 
 With ev'ry kiss he tried a thousand wiles ; 
 A thousand gestures, and a thousand smiles ; 
 Your inmost breast with Cyprian odours fiU'd, 
 
 60 
 
KISS XV 
 
 And all the myrtle's luscious scent instiird : 
 
 Lastly, he swore by ev'ry pow r above ! 
 
 By Venus' self, the potent queen of love I 
 
 That thou, blest nymph ! for ever shouldst remain 
 
 Exempt from am rous care, from amVous pain. 
 
 What wonder, then, such balmy sweets should flow 
 
 In evVy grateful kiss thy lips bestow ! 
 
 What wonder, then, obdurate maid ! you prove 
 
 Averse to all the tenderness of love ! 
 
 6i 
 
KISS XVI 
 
 IRIGHT as Venus* golden star ! 
 
 [And as silver Cynthia fair ! 
 
 Nymph, with evVy charm replete 
 
 Give an hundred kisses sweet ; 
 
 Then as many kisses more 
 Jo er my lips profusely pour. 
 As th' insatiate bard could want. 
 Or his bounteous Lesbia grant ; 
 As the vagrant loves, that stray 
 On thy lip's nectareous way ; 
 As the dimpling graces spread 
 On thy cheek's carnation'd bed ; 
 As the deaths thy lovers die ; 
 As the conquests of thine eye ; 
 Or the cares, and fond delights. 
 Which its changeful beam incites ; 
 As the hopes and fears we prove. 
 Or th' impassioned sighs, in love ; 
 As the shafts by Cupid sped. 
 Shafts ! by which my heart has bled ; 
 As the countless stores, that still 
 All his golden quiver fill. 
 
 62 
 
KISS XVI 
 
 Whisper'd plaints, and wanton wiles ; 
 Speeches soft, and soothing smiles ; 
 Teeth-imprinted, tell-tale blisses ; 
 Intermix with all thy kisses : 
 So, when Zephyr's breezy wing 
 Wafts the balmy breath of spring. 
 Turtles thus their loves repeat. 
 Fondly-billing, murm'ring-sweet ; 
 While their trembling pinions tell 
 What delights their bosoms swell. 
 
 Now, when joys o'er whelm thy mind. 
 On my glowing cheek reclin'd. 
 All around, in am'rous trance. 
 Let thine eyes voluptuous glance ; 
 And, sufFus'd with passion's flames. 
 Dart their sweetly-trembling gleams : 
 Then, soft-languishing, and sighing. 
 With delicious transport dying. 
 Say to thy officious swain, 
 " Now thy fainting fair sustain," 
 
 63 
 
KISS XVI 
 
 In my fond, encircling arms 
 
 ril receive thy melting charms ; 
 
 While the long, life-teeming kiss 
 
 Shall recall thy soul to bliss : 
 
 And, as thus the vital store 
 
 From my humid lips I pour. 
 
 Till, exhausted with the play. 
 
 All my spirit wastes away; 
 
 Sudden, in my turn, I'll cry, 
 
 " Oh I support me, for I die." 
 
 To your fost'ring breast you'll hold me. 
 
 In your warm embrace enfold me ; 
 
 While thy breath, in nectar 'd gales. 
 
 O'er my sinking soul prevails ; 
 
 While thy kisses sweet impart 
 
 Life, and rapture to the heart. 
 
 Thus, when youth is in its prime. 
 Let's enjoy the golden time ; 
 For, when smiling youth is past. 
 Age these tender joys shall blast : 
 
 64 
 
KISS XVI 
 
 Sickness, which our bloom impairs ; 
 Slow-consuming, painful cares ; 
 Death, with dire remorseless rage ; 
 All attend the steps of age. 
 
 w 
 
 sr 
 
 65 
 
KISS XVII 
 
 OSES, refresh'd with nightly dew, 
 
 display 
 IK New beauties blushing to the dawn 
 
 of day ; 
 )0, by the kisses of a rapt'rous 
 
 night. 
 
 Thy vermil lips at morn blush doubly bright ; 
 And from thy face, that's exquisitely fair. 
 That vermil brightness seems more bright t' ap- 
 pear : 
 Deep-purpled vi'lets thus a deeper glow. 
 Held in some virgin's snowy hand, will show ; 
 And early-rip 'ning cherries thus assume, 
 'Mid the late blossoms, a superior bloom ; 
 When spring and summer boast united pow'r. 
 At once producing both the fruit and flow r. 
 But why, when most thy kisses fire my heart. 
 Why, from th' endearing transport must I part? 
 Oh ! let that crimson on those lips remain 
 Till ev'ning brings me to thy arms again : 
 Yet should those lips ere then some rival bless. 
 Some youth whom thou in secret shalt caress ; 
 
 66 
 
KISS XVII 
 
 Then may they cease for ever to disclose 
 That beauteous blush, which emulates the rose ! 
 Then paler turn, than my pale cheek shall prove. 
 Whene'er I view this mark of faithless love ! 
 
 by 
 
KISS XVIII 
 
 HEN Cytherea first beheld 
 
 Those lips with ruby lustre bright. 
 Those lips ! which, as they blushing 
 
 sweird. 
 
 Blush' d deeper from th' incircling 
 
 white ; 
 
 (So, when some artist's skill inlays 
 
 Coral mid ivVy's paler hue. 
 That height' ning coral soon displays 
 
 A warmer crimson to the view ;) 
 
 Then, urg'd by envy and by hate. 
 
 Which rising sighs and tears betray'd. 
 
 She call'd her wanton loves ; — and strait 
 The wanton loves her call obey'd : 
 
 To whom the queen in plaintive strain ; — 
 
 "Ah ! what, my boys, avails it now. 
 
 That to these lips the Phrygian swain 
 
 Decreed the prize on Ida's brow ? 
 
 68 
 
KISS XVIII 
 
 ** That prize ! for which, elate with pride. 
 The martial maid contentious strove ; 
 
 That prize ! to Juno's self denied, 
 Tho' sister, tho* the wife of Jove : 
 
 " If, to pervert this swain's decree, 
 A poet's partial judgment dare 
 
 His mortal nymph prefer to me. 
 Her lips with lips divine compare ! 
 
 " Swift, then, ye vengeful cupids, fly 
 With loaded quivers to the bard; 
 
 Let all the pangs ye can supply 
 His matchless insolence reward : 
 
 " Go, practise evVy cruel art 
 
 Revenge can frame, without delay ; 
 
 His bosom pierce with ev'ry dart 
 
 Which love's soft poison may convey : 
 
 " But wound not with such darts the fair. 
 Her breast must ever cold remain ; 
 
 69 
 
KISS XVIII 
 
 Your shafts of lead lodge deeply there. 
 To freeze the current of each vein/* 
 
 She spoke : — now more than usual fire 
 Consumes apace my melting soul ; 
 
 And now, fierce torrents of desire 
 Tumultuous thro' my bosom roll : 
 
 While thou, whose icy heart betrays 
 No more concern than rocks that brave 
 
 The fury of Sicilian seas. 
 
 Or Adria's rudely-dashing wave. 
 
 Canst, in unfeeling scorn secure, 
 Mock all thy tortur'd lover's pain ; 
 
 Who for fond praise is doom'd t' endure. 
 Ungrateful maid ! thy cold disdain. 
 
 Yet why, proud wretch ! you thus despise 
 You know not ; — nor how fierce may prove 
 
 Th' ungovern'd anger of the skies, 
 The vengeance of the queen of love ! 
 
 70 
 
 .jtr: 
 
KISS XVIII 
 
 But, oh ! no more pursue that scorn. 
 
 Which ill-becomes each outward grace ; 
 
 Sure, sweetest manners should adorn 
 
 The nymph who boasts so sweet a face ! 
 
 Then let thy lips to mine be prest, 
 
 Those honied lips ! which cause my care : 
 
 Imbibing from my inmost breast 
 The latent poison rankling there : 
 
 And, as you thus partake the smart 
 Of all my torture, — in your turn 
 
 You'll catch the flame that warms my heart. 
 And soon with mutual passion burn. 
 
 But fear not thou the pow'rs divine. 
 Fear not the potent queen of love ! 
 
 Beauty, well-guarded maid ! like thine 
 Can sway th' imperial souls above. 
 
 71 
 
KISS XIX 
 
 *HY wing your flight, ye bees ! from 
 
 flow'r to flow'r ? 
 Why, toiling thus, collect the luscious 
 
 store 
 From blossom' d thyme empurpling 
 
 all the ground ? 
 From the rich anise breathing odours round ? 
 Why sip the vernal vi'let's nectar'd dew ? 
 Or spoil the fragrant rose of blushing hue ? 
 Fly to the lips, ye wantons ! of my fair ; 
 And gather all your balmy treasures there ; 
 Thence catch the fragrance of the blushing rose ; 
 Thence sip that dew which from the vi'let flows ; 
 Thence the rich odours of the anise steal ; 
 And thence the blossom'd thyme's perfume in- 
 hale: 
 Lips ! where those tears in genuine moisture dwell, 
 That from Narcissus self-enamour' d fell ; 
 Lips ! deeply-ting'd with Hyacinthus' blood. 
 Which, with the tears in one commingled flood. 
 Impregnating the fertile womb of earth. 
 First gave the variegated flowV its birth : 
 
 72 
 
 liiititfu. ^Ak 
 
 i^Ji 
 
KISS XIX 
 
 Soon, by the nectar'd show'rs that Heav'n bestow' d. 
 With fanning gales, the motley offspring blow'd : 
 For drops of blood, lo ! crimson streaks appear ; 
 And streaks uncolour'd for each lucid tear. 
 
 But still, ye bees well-favoured ! grateful prove ; 
 Let no unkind refusals pay my love. 
 If e'er I claim (what's sure my rightful due) 
 To share those lips, those honied lips ! with you : 
 Nor suck insatiate all their balm away. 
 And to your bursting cells the sweets convey ; 
 Lest, when to cool my fever'd lips I try, 
 Neaera's lips no cooling dews supply ; 
 Then shall I justly reap the sad reward 
 Of what misguided confidence declar'd. 
 
 And, oh ! to wound her tender lips forbear ; 
 Or dread the fatal vengeance of the fair : 
 Tho' sharp your stings, her eyes can scatter round 
 Darts that with more tormenting stings may wound ! 
 
 73 
 
KISS XIX 
 
 Nor, as ye sip, inflict the slightest pain. 
 For unreveng'd the wrong will ne'er remain ; 
 But gently gather, from those precious rills, 
 Th' ambrosial drops each humid lip distils. 
 
 74 
 
 «:j^"r: 
 
 iiitii 
 
EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 7S 
 

THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Translated by George Ogle 
 
 |HE hour is come, with pleasure 
 crowned, 
 
 jBorne in eternal order round ! 
 
 Hour, of endearing looks and smiles, 
 
 Hour, of voluptuous sports and 
 wiles. 
 
 Hour, fraught with fondly-murmuring sighs. 
 Hour, blest with softly dying eyes. 
 Hour, with commingling kisses sweet. 
 Hour, of transporting bliss replete. 
 Hour, worthy ev'n of gods above. 
 Hour, worthy all-commanding Jove ! 
 For not a fairer-omened hour 
 Could promise the kind Cnidian power ; 
 Not tender Cupid could bestow. 
 The boy with silver-splendid bow 
 And golden wing, delicious boy. 
 That sorrow still allays with joy ; 
 
 77 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Nor, wont at nuptials to preside. 
 
 She that of Jove is sister-bride ; 
 
 Nor he, on tuneful summit born. 
 
 The god whom flowery wreaths adorn. 
 
 Who blooming beauty tears away. 
 
 Bears off by force the charming prey ; 
 
 From the reluctant mother tears. 
 
 To the rapacious lover bears. 
 
 Hour long desired ! hour long delayed ! 
 
 Thrice happy youth ! thrice happy maid ! 
 
 Thrice happy youth, supremely blest. 
 Of every wish in one possest ! 
 To thee, the maid of form divine 
 Comes seeming loath, but inly thine : 
 Such form as Juno's self might choose. 
 Nor yet the martial maid refuse ; 
 Though that th' aetherial sceptre sways. 
 And this the shining shield displays : 
 Nor yet the Cyprian queen disdain. 
 But, to reseek the Phrygian swain 
 And cause of beauty redecide 
 
 78 
 
 -1 iiir""itfi TT^'Tn — T — ■aariiiiiiiiiMiiiigriMr'^ •-- 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 In shady vale of flowering Ide, 
 How sure to gain the golden prize, — 
 Though judged by less discerning eyes, — 
 She, in that matchless form arrayed : 
 Thrice happy youth ! thrice happy maid ! 
 
 Thrice happy maid, supremely blest. 
 Of every wish in one possest ! 
 To thee, on wings of love and truth. 
 Comes, all devote, the raptured youth. 
 Thy bending neck with eager hold. 
 Thy waist impatient to enfold ; 
 While, for that hair of easy flow. 
 While, for that breast of virgin snow. 
 While, for that lip of rosy dye. 
 While, for that sweetly-speaking eye. 
 With silent passion he expires 
 And burns with still-consuming fires. 
 Now Phoebus, slow to quit the skies. 
 Now loitering Phoebus, slow to rise. 
 Persists alternate to upbraid ! 
 Thrice happy youth ! thrice happy maid ! 
 
 79 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Spare, youth, your vows, vain oifFerings spare 
 Forbear your needless sighs, forbear : 
 Lo ! Time, in ever-varying race. 
 Brings on at last the wished-for space. 
 Mild Venus, with propitious ears. 
 The sorrows of her votaries hears ; 
 While Cynthius, down the western steeps. 
 Low plunges in Iberian deeps. 
 And quits the ample fields of air 
 To his night-wandering sister's care : 
 Than whom no light more grateful shines 
 To souls which mutual love conjoins ; 
 Not he that leads the stars along. 
 Brightest of all the glittering throng, 
 Hesper, with golden torch displayed : 
 Thrice happy youth ! thrice happy maid ! 
 
 See where the maid all panting lies. 
 Ah ! never more a maid to rise. 
 And longs, yet trembles at thy tread. 
 Her cheeks perfused with decent red, 
 Expressing-half her inward flame. 
 
 80 
 
 ^asamm 
 
 ^^gigammamasimimmimm^ 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Half-springing from ingenuous shame : 
 Tears from her eyes perhaps may steal. 
 Her joys the better to conceal ; 
 Then sighs, with grief unreal fraught. 
 Then follow plaints of wrongs unthought. 
 But cease not thou, with idle fears. 
 For all her plaints, or sighs, or tears: 
 Kissed be the tears from off her eyes ; 
 With tender murmurs stopped, her sighs ; 
 With soothings soft her plaints allayed : 
 Thrice happy youth ! thrice happy maid ! 
 
 The maid, in decent order placed. 
 With every bridal honour graced. 
 Through all her limbs begin to spread 
 The glowings of the genial bed 
 And languid sleep dispose to take. 
 Did not the youth, more watchful, wake ; 
 And the mild queen of fierce desire 
 With warmth, not disproportioned, fire. 
 Taught hence, nor purpled kings to prize. 
 Nor sceptred Jove that rules the skies. 
 
 8i 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Soon for soft combats he prepares. 
 
 And gentle toils of amorous wars : 
 
 Declared, but with no loud alarms. 
 
 Begun, but with no dreaded arms : 
 
 Kisses, which, wanton as he strays. 
 
 He darts a thousand wanton ways 
 
 At mouth, or neck, or eyes, or cheeks ; 
 
 Him humbly she full oft bespeaks. 
 
 Entreats, an helpless maid to spare. 
 
 And begs with trembling voice, " Forbear ; 
 
 Full oft his rudeness loudly blames ; 
 
 His boundless insolence proclaims ; 
 
 His lips with lips averse withstands ; 
 
 With hands restrains his roving hands : 
 
 Resistance sweet, delicious fight : 
 
 O night ! O doubly happy night ! 
 
 Contention obstinate succeeds ; 
 The tender Loves contention feeds. 
 By that, redoubled ardour burns ; 
 By that, redoubled strength returns. 
 Now o'er her neck take nimble flight. 
 
 82 
 
 iMMlitfiMMMiiiiltMii^^ 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Her breast, as spotless ivory white. 
 Her waist of gradual rising charms, 
 Soft-moulded legs, smooth-polished arms ; 
 Search all the tracts, in curious sport. 
 Conductive to the Cyprian court ; 
 Through all the dark recesses go. 
 And all the shady coverts know : 
 To this, unnumbered kisses join. 
 Unnumbered as the stars that shine. 
 Commingling rays of blended light : 
 O night ! O doubly happy night ! 
 
 Then, spare no blandishments of love : 
 Sounds that with softening flattery move : 
 Sighs that with soothing murmur please : 
 The injured virgin to appease : 
 Such, as when Zephyr fans the grove. 
 Or coos the amorous billing dove. 
 Or sings the swan with tuneful breath. 
 Conscious of near approaching death : 
 Till, pierced by Cupid's powerful dart. 
 As by degrees relents her heart. 
 
 83 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 The virgin, less and less severe. 
 Quits by degrees her stubborn fear ; 
 Now, on your arms her neck reclines. 
 Now, with your arms her neck entwines, 
 As love's resistless flames incite : 
 O night ! O doubly happy night I 
 
 Sweet kisses shall reward your pains. 
 Kisses which no rude rapine stains. 
 From lips on swelling lips that swell. 
 From lips on dwelling lips that dwell. 
 That play return with equal play. 
 That bliss with equal bliss repay. 
 That vital stores from either heart. 
 Imbibing, soul for soul impart ; 
 Till now the maid, adventurous grown. 
 Attempts new frolics of her own ; 
 Now suffers, strangers to the way. 
 Her far more daring hands to stray ; 
 Now sports far more salacious seeks ; 
 Now words far more licentious speaks, 
 
 84 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 Words that past sufferings well requite : 
 O night ! O doubly happy night ! 
 
 To arms ! to arms ! now Cupid sounds ; 
 Now is the time for grateful wounds : 
 Here Venus waves the nimble spear, 
 Venus is warlike goddess here. 
 Here, not thy sister. Mars, presides ; 
 Thy mistress in those conflicts prides. 
 While close engage the struggling foes. 
 And restless, breast to breast oppose ; 
 While eager this disputes the field. 
 And that alike disdains to yield. 
 Till lo ! in breathless transports tost. 
 Till, in resistless raptures lost. 
 Their limbs with liquid dews distill. 
 Their hearts with pleasing horrors thrill. 
 And faint away in wild delight : 
 O night ! O doubly happy night ! 
 
 O may you oft these sports renew. 
 
 And through long days and nights pursue ; 
 
 85 
 
THE EPITHALAMIUM 
 
 With many an early moon begun. 
 Prolonged to many a setting sun. 
 May a fair offspring crown your joys. 
 Of prattling girls and smiling boys ; 
 And yet another offspring rise. 
 Sweet objects to parental eyes. 
 The cares assiduous to assuage 
 That still solicit querulous age ; 
 Careful your trembling limbs to stay. 
 That fail with unperceived decay ; 
 Pious, when summoned hence you go. 
 The last kind office to bestow, 
 Office, with unfeigned sorrow paid : 
 Thrice happy youth ! thrice happy maid ! 
 
 86 
 
 < ;*j^ 
 
 ^jjIgjMjjjj^^^ 
 
FRAGMENTS 
 
 87 
 
IvJi 'i 
 
SOME 
 
 Fragments and Poetical Pieces 
 
 ON THE 
 
 KISS 
 
 A FRAGMENT 
 
 To LTDIA 
 
 OVELY Lydia, lovely maid ! 
 
 Either rose in thee's displayed ; 
 
 Roses of a blushing red 
 
 O'er thy lips, and cheeks are shed ; 
 
 Roses of a paly hue 
 
 In thy fairer charms we view. 
 
 Now thy braided hair unbind ; 
 Now, luxuriant, unconfin'd. 
 Let thy wavy tresses flow ; 
 Tresses bright, of burnish' d glow ! 
 Bare thy iv'ry neck, my fair ! 
 Now thy snowy shoulders bare : 
 
 89 
 
A FRAGMENT 
 
 ^ »A 
 
 Bid the vivid lustre rise li; 
 In thy passion-streaming eyes ; 
 See, the lucent meteors gleam ! 
 See, they speak the wishful flame ! 
 And how gracefully above, 
 Modeird from the bow of love. 
 Are thy arching brows displayed. 
 Softening in a sable shade ! 
 Let a warmer crimson streak 
 The velvet of thy downy cheek : 
 Let thy lips, that breathe perfume. 
 Deeper purple now assume : 
 Give me little billing kisses, 
 Intermixt with murm'ring blisses. 
 Soft, my love ! — my angel, stay ! — 
 Soft ! — you suck my breath away. 
 Drink the life-drops of my heart. 
 Draw my soul from ev'ry part ; 
 Scarce my senses can sustain 
 So much pleasure, so much pain ! 
 Hide thy broad, voluptuous breast ! 
 Hide that balmy heav'n of rest ! 
 
 90 
 
 MM 
 
 msskimmmmammmmmmmmmmmimmmm^^ 
 
A FRAGMENT 
 
 See, to feast th' enamour' d eyes. 
 How the snowy hillocks rise ! 
 Parted by the luscious vale. 
 Whence luxurious sweets exhale : 
 Nature fram'd thee but t' inspire 
 Never-ending, fond desire ! 
 Again, above its envious vest. 
 See, thy bosom heaves confest ! 
 Hide the raptVous, dear delight ! 
 Hide it from my ravish'd sight ! 
 Hide it ! — for thro' all my soul 
 Tides of madd'ning transport roll : 
 Venting now th' impassion' d sigh. 
 See me languish, see me die ! 
 Tear not from me then thy charms 
 Snatch, oh, snatch me to thy arms I 
 With a life-inspiring kiss. 
 Wake my sinking soul to bliss ! 
 
 91 
 
ON LESBIA 
 
 'HEN beauteous Lesbia fires my melt- 
 ing soul, 
 [(She, who the torch and bow from 
 
 Cupid stole,) 
 By many a smile, by many an ardent 
 kiss; 
 
 And with her teeth imprints the tell-tale bliss : 
 Thro' all my frame the madding transport glows. 
 Thro' ev'ry vein the tide of rapture flows. 
 As many stars as o'er Heav'n's concave shine. 
 Or clusters as adorn the fruitful vine ; 
 So many blandishments, voluptuous joys, 
 T' inflame my breast, the wily maid employs. 
 But, dearest Lesbia ! gentle mistress ! say. 
 Why thus d'ye wound my lips in am'rous play ? 
 With kisses, smiles, and ev'ry wanton art. 
 Why raise the burning fever of my heart ? 
 Let us, my love ! on yon soft couch reclin'd. 
 Each other's arms around each other twin'd. 
 Yield to the pleasing force of strong desire; 
 And, panting, struggling, both at once expire ! 
 For, oh, my Lesbia ! sure that death is sweet. 
 Which lovers in the fond contention meet ! 
 
 92 
 
 rtT" ', ..^ararysa^ 
 
 "^^rr ^T^nF 
 
 ryrrrsr- 
 
 mmm 
 
KISS XVI. OF BONEFONIUS 
 
 LASP'D, sweet maid ! in thy em- 
 brace ; 
 While I view thy smiling face. 
 And the sweets with rapture sip. 
 Flowing from thy honied lip ; 
 Then I taste, in heav'nly state. 
 All that's happy, all that's great: 
 
 But, when you forsake my arms. 
 And displeasure clouds your charms ; 
 Sudden I, who prov'd so late 
 All that's happy, all that's great. 
 Prove the tortures of a ghost. 
 Wand' ring on the Stygian coast. 
 
 ^ or TM£ 
 
 Of 
 
 \ 
 
 93 
 
THE PASTIME OF VENUS 
 
 NTENT to frame some new design 
 
 of bliss, 
 The wanton Cyprian queen compos' d 
 
 a kiss : 
 'An ample portion of ambrosial juice 
 |With mystic skill she temper'd first 
 
 for use ; 
 This done, her infant work was well bedew' d 
 With choicest nectar ; and o'er all she strew'd 
 Part of the honey which sly Cupid stole. 
 Much to his cost, and blended with the whole ; 
 Then, that soft scent which from the vi'let flows 
 She mixt, with spoils of many a vernal rose ; 
 Each gentle blandishment in love we find. 
 Each graceful winning gesture next she join'd ; 
 And all those joys that in her zone abound 
 Made up the kiss, and the rich labour crown'd. 
 Considering now what beauteous nymph might prove 
 Worthy the gift, and worthy of her love ; 
 She fixt on Chloe, as her fav'rite maid ; 
 To whom the goddess sweetly-smiling said : 
 " Take this, my fair ! to perfect ev'ry grace ; 
 And on thy lips the fragrant blessing place." 
 
 94 
 
MUTUAL KISSING 
 
 HEN o'er the virgin cheek we meet 
 Health's tender - blooming roses 
 spread ; 
 
 To kiss those roses may be sweet. 
 To kiss them on their native bed ! 
 
 Full well experienced lovers know. 
 And chief the few who blissful burn. 
 
 That kiss is lifeless we bestow 
 
 On charms that yield no kind return : 
 
 But sure those kisses breathe delight. 
 Where love the sweetly-vengeful dart 
 
 Exchanges, while fond lips unite. 
 Lips echoing-soft as kisses part ! 
 
 When one warm wish enflames the pair. 
 Not less endearing kisses prove; 
 
 Each gives, each takes an equal share ; 
 Sweet interchange of sweetest love ! 
 
 95 
 
MUTUAL KISSING 
 
 Kiss the dear lip, the swelling breast. 
 
 The snow-white hand, the forehead kiss ; 
 
 'Tis by the lip the joy's exprest, 
 'Tis the kind lip repays the bliss. 
 
 When lovers' lips in transport join. 
 
 Their souls to share that transport fly ; 
 
 And, as their mingling breaths combine. 
 The purple gems with life supply : 
 
 Then each inspired kiss imparts. 
 
 In sounds half-utter' d, half-supprest. 
 
 The tender secrets of their hearts. 
 Secrets to lips alone confest ! 
 
 Where soul is thus with soul entwin'd. 
 The living rapture is improv'd ; 
 
 'Tis rapture of the sweetest kind. 
 
 To kiss when kiss'd, to love when lov'd 
 
 96 
 
ON A KISS 
 
 H ! canst thou, cruel nymph ! sup- 
 pose 
 One kiss rewards thy am'rous youth; 
 
 Enough rewards his tender woes ; 
 His long, long constancy; and 
 truth ? 
 
 Think not thy promised kindness paid 
 By simple kissing ; — for the kiss 
 
 Is but an earnest, beauteous maid ! 
 Of more substantial, future bliss : 
 
 Sweet kisses only were designed 
 Our warmer raptures to improve ; 
 
 Kisses were meant soft vows to bind. 
 Were silent pledges meant of love. 
 
 97 
 
CUPID STRAYED 
 
 ES, beauteous queen ; — thy son, they 
 say. 
 
 Thy wanton son ! is gone astray : — 
 
 Nay, Venus, more; — 'tis said, from 
 thee tU*^<^^ ^^ 
 
 |A kiss the sweet reward shall be 
 To any swain, who truly tells 
 Where 'tis the little Wand'rer dwells : *or! 
 Then grieve no more, nor drop a tear ; 
 For know the little urchin's here; rj ns usa zl 
 
 He, from the search of vulgar eyes, j:; yiofa\0 
 Conceal' d within my bosom lies : 
 Now, goddess, as I've told thee this ; 
 Give me, oh, give the promis'd kiss ! 
 
 1,' 
 
 98 
 
 m — ' 
 
 ■.'-*^;. 
 
 ^*'^i 
 
 iWifiM 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 Translated 
 I 
 
 CHOICEST gift of heav'nly kind! 
 
 O, sacred source of joy refin'd ! 
 
 Thou latent spring, whose vast con- 
 trol 
 
 Extends throughout the boundless 
 whole ! 
 
 Attraction strong ! all-powerful cause, 
 Enforcing Nature's hidden laws ! 
 Thou magic lightning, that canst burn 
 What-e'er you touch, where-e'er you turn ! 
 Touch but the lips, and you dispense 
 The brisk alarm thro' evVy sense : 
 Come, hover round my tuneful lyre. 
 And ev'ry swelling note inspire ; 
 So shall the warmth my strains express : it^. 
 
 Thy rapture-giving powV confess. 
 
 99 
 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 II 
 
 To those, who own your gentle sway. 
 You darts of pleasing flame convey ; 
 Your kindling sparks, that ne'er can die. 
 Blind Cupid's burning torch supply : 
 How dull the spring of life wou'd prove. 
 Without the kiss that waits on love ! 
 Youth first to thee its homage pays. 
 Becomes enlighten' d from thy rays ; 
 And, hast'ning by your fost'ring fires 
 The birth of all the gay desires. 
 From youthful lips you soon receive 
 The richest harvests lips can give. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Far from the world's more glaring eye. 
 What crowds of wretched beings lie ; 
 Who seem in dull oblivion doom'd 
 For ever to remain entomb'd ! 
 To them no zephyr's balmy wing 
 
 lOO 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 Refreshing gales, or sweets can bring ; 
 No rip ning crops of golden grain 
 For them adorn the waving plain : 
 Yet, thy persuasive magic binds 
 To this terrestrial orb their minds ; 
 And bids them, in their gloomy state. 
 Smile, nor regret their piteous fate. 
 
 IV 
 
 The flowVs, that in yon meadow grow. 
 To thee their bloom, their fragrance owe ; 
 The blossom'd shrubs, in gaudy dress. 
 Thy genial warmth, thy pow'r confess ; 
 The stream, that winds along the grove. 
 And courts the shore with waves of love. 
 Is taught by thee the fond embrace. 
 By thee is taught each rural grace : 
 On gently-parted lips, say, why 
 Is plac'd the rose's beauteous dye? 
 Because, on that soft seat of bliss 
 Abides the rosy-breathing kiss. 
 
 loi 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 Let rigid scruple furl her brow. 
 And blame the comforts you bestow : 
 The sage, the hero, thee obey ; 
 Nay, legislators own thy sway. 
 See, threatening Caesar mounts his car. 
 To join th' embattled sons of war ; 
 Swift from the capitol he flies. 
 And ev'ry hostile warrior dies : 
 But soon he quits the bleeding plain. 
 With transport hugs fair beauty's chain. 
 And, e'en beneath his laurel's shade. 
 Caresses many a Roman maid. 
 
 VI 
 
 Could Mahomet, whose dauntless soul 
 Superior rose to all control. 
 Whose breast was fir'd with hope sublime. 
 Who thought that ignorance and crime 
 Were destin'd o'er this globe t' have reign' d ; 
 
 1 02 
 
 ■ IfTllMIII I 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 Could that stern victor have sustained 
 The harsh, fatiguing toil of arms ; 
 Had not his houris' soothing charms. 
 And tender kisses, luU'd to rest 
 The martial tumults of his breast ; 
 If the seraglio of this earth 
 Had not to those sweet joys giv n birth. 
 Which, in the paradise of love. 
 The prophet hop'd to taste above ? 
 
 VII 
 
 But tow'ring domes, that strike the eyes 
 With outward grandeur, you despise ; 
 There stormy passions govern sense. 
 And banish tender feelings thence. 
 Say, couldst thou well-contented lie 
 On lips with shrivell'd coldness dry. 
 On lips, that no bright purple wear ! 
 But pal'd by sickness, or by care ? 
 The gilded ceilings, beds of state. 
 The gaudy chambers of the great. 
 
 103 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 Th' embroidered cushions they display. 
 Must fright the gentle kiss away. 
 
 vni 
 
 Fly to the rural, shadowy dells : 
 There peace in calm retirement dwells ; 
 And, underneath the beech's shade. 
 Thy amVous secrets are displayed ; 
 There, on the hay-mow, or the grass. 
 Sport the fond youth, and fonder lass ; 
 There, unconstrained in frolic play, 
 A kiss they lend, a kiss repay ; 
 Pleasures so num'rous round them flow. 
 Envy can ne'er the number know ; 
 Nor are the lips' sweet joys deny'd 
 By prudes, affecting virtuous pride. 
 
 IX 
 
 Tho' tempted hence your flight to take. 
 My humble mansion ne'er forsake ; 
 
 104 
 
 ■ggT"^. 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 To you if constant I remain. 
 Let kindness recompense my pain ! 
 Around my youth fresh flow'rets shed. 
 Till age shall silver o'er my head ; 
 Then softly fan my drooping fires. 
 And wake the half-extinct desires : 
 So mayst thou, in thy wand'rings, meet 
 Young innocence, who smiles so sweet ! 
 And may she all-submissive prove. 
 To thee, the guiltless guest of love ! 
 
 So may the nymph of gay fifteen. 
 By strict maternal eyes unseen. 
 To some sequestered grove retire ; 
 There, reading, nurse her infant fire ; 
 Free from a parent's stern control. 
 Explore her newly-op'ning soul ; 
 And riot o'er my am'rous page. 
 Soft-yielding to voluptuous rage ! 
 
 los 
 
HYMN TO THE KISS 
 
 So may sweet dreams of rapt'rous joy 
 Her pleasing slumbers oft employ ; 
 Till many a fond, illusive kiss 
 Shall almost realise the bliss ! 
 
 1 06 
 
KISS 
 
 AFTER THE MANNER OF 
 
 SECUNDUS 
 
 To CYNTHIA 
 
 HE transient season let's improve. 
 That human life allots to love : 
 Youth soon, my Cynthia ! flies away, 
 nd age assumes its frozen sw^ay ; 
 jjjjj^^g^^lWith elegance and neatness drest, 
 ^ g ^ ^gjm Come, then, in beauty's bloom con- 
 fest. 
 
 And in my fond embrace be blest ! 
 
 Faint strugglings but inflame desire. 
 And serve to fan the lover's fire : 
 Then yield not all at once your charms. 
 But with reluctance fill my arms ; 
 
 107 
 
A KISS 
 
 My arms! that shall with eager haste 
 
 Encircle now your slender waist. 
 
 Now round your neck be careless hung. 
 
 And now o'er all your frame be flung : 
 
 About your limbs my limbs I'll twine. 
 
 And lay your glowing cheek to mine : 
 
 Close to my broader, manlier chest 
 
 I'll press thy firm, proud-swelling breast ; 
 
 Now rising high, now falling low ; 
 
 As passion's tide shall ebb, or flow : 
 
 My murm'ring tongue shall speak my bliss. 
 
 Shall court your yielding lips to kiss ; 
 
 Each kiss with thousands I'll repay. 
 
 And almost suck your breath away ; 
 
 A thousand more you then shall give. 
 
 And then a thousand more receive : 
 
 In transport half-dissolv'd we'll lie. 
 
 Venting our wishes in a sigh ! 
 
 Quick-starting from me, now display 
 Your loose, and discompos'd array: 
 Your hair shall o'er your polish'd brow 
 
 io8 
 
 ■niiiriiiMi 
 
A KISS 
 
 In sweetly-wild disorder flow ; 
 And those long tresses from behind. 
 You us'd in artful braids to bind. 
 Shall down your snowy bosom spread 
 Redundant, in a soften'd shade ; 
 And from your wishful eyes shall stream 
 The dewy light of passion's flame : 
 While now and then a look shall glance ; 
 Your senses lost in am'rous trance ; 
 That fain my rudeness wou*d reprove. 
 Yet plainly tells how strong your love : 
 The roses, heightening on your cheek. 
 Shall the fierce tide of rapture speak ; 
 And on your lips a warmer glow 
 The deepened ruby then shall show : 
 Your breast, replete with youthful fire. 
 Shall heave with tumults of desire ; 
 Shall heave at thoughts of wish'd-for bliss. 
 Springing as tho' Would meet my kiss : 
 Down on that heav n I'll sink quite spent. 
 And lie in tender languishment ; 
 But soon your charms' reviving powV 
 
 109 
 
A KISS 
 
 Shall to my frame new life restore : 
 With love ril then my pains assuage; 
 With kisses cool my wanton rage ; 
 Hang o'er thy beauties till I cloy ; 
 Then cease, and then renew my joy ! 
 
 FINIS 
 
 no 
 
HIS Book is Number .^...r........of 
 
 in Edition of The Basia of Joannes 
 jSecundus, consisting of Three Hun- 
 jdred and Sixty-five Copies printed 
 ipon Dutch Hand-made Paper, and 
 wenty-six Hand-illumined Copies 
 upon Japan Vellum. The Title-page and Initials 
 are designed by Ralph Fletcher Seymour. Printed 
 at the Colonial Press in Boston for Frank M. 
 Morris. 
 
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