Her voice excels the linnet's notes,

Exceeds the thrush's stile,

In vain they strive to raife their notes Like Patty's of the Hill.

How fhall I paint her tender mind,
(The charms I most admire)
In her is ev'ry virtue join'd

That paffion can infpire.
Her foul the Graces all refine,
She bends to Reafon's will;.
I'd freely all the world refign
For Patty of the Hill.

ΙΟ

THE fmiling morn, the blooming spring,
Invite the chearful birds to fing;
And, while they warble on each spray,
Love melts the univerfal lay

Let us, Amanda, timely wife,

Like them improve the hour that flies,
And in foft raptures wafte the day,
Among the Birks of Endermay.
Among, &c.

For foon the winter of the year,
And age life's winter will appear;
At this thy living bloom will fade,
As that will trip the verdant fhade:
Our tafte of pleasure then is o'er,
The feather'd fongfters are no more;
And when they droop and we decay,
Adieu the Birks of Endermay,
Behold the bills and vales around,
With lowing herds and flocks abound;
The wanton kids and frisking lambs
Gambol and dance about their dams,"
The bufy bees with humming noise,
And all the reptile kind rejoice;
Let us like them then fing and play
About the Birks of Endermay.

14

WHILE you, Felicia, heedlefs ftray
Thro' woods and groves and flow'rets gay,
Exempt from ev'ry fear,
Exempt, &c.

Secure within thy rofy bow'rs,"
Content the fweeteft influence pours,
And gilds the blooming year,
And gilds, &c.

No anxious doubts invade thy breaft,
All, all, is tranquil, calm and bleft,
And joys on joys abound;
Where'er thy fragrant footsteps lead,
Or in the grove, or on the mead,
The graces fmile around.

Such ever be Felicia's fate,

Such tranfports ever round her wait,
Whom gods and men approve;
may thefe bleffings never ceafe,
May all her days be crown'd with peace,

And all her hours be love.

Attend to my fong, where you'll certainly find
A fecret difclos'd for the good of mankind;
And deny it who can, fure the laurel's my due
I have found out a padlock to keep a wife true."
Should the amorous goddefs prefide o'er your dame,
With the ardours of youth all her paffions inflame;
Should her beauty lead captive each fofter defire,
And languishing lovers ftill figh and admire;"
Yet fearlefs you'd truft her, tho' thoufands may fue,
When I tell you my padlock to keep a wife true.
Tho' the hufband may think that he wifely reftrains
With his bars and his bolts, his confinement and
How fatally weak muft this artifice prove! [chains;
Can fetters of steel bind like fetters of love?
Throw jealoufy hence, bid fufpicion adieu;
Reftraint's not the padlock to keep p a wife true.
Should her fancy invite to the park or the play,
All-complying and kind you must give her her way;
While her tafteand her judgment you fondly approve,
'Tis reason fecures you the treasures of love:
And, believe me, no coxcomb admiffion can find
For the fair-one is fafe, if you padlock her mind.
Tho' her virtues with foibles fhould frequently blend,
Let the husband be loft in the lover and friend;
Let doubts and furmifes no longer perplex,
'Tis the charm of indulgence that binds the foft fex;
They ne'er can prove falfe while this maxim's in view
Good-humour's the padlock to keep a wife true.
- 16

How

heavy the time rolls along Now Julia is out of my fight? How dull is the nightingale's fong That formerly gave fuch delight? The meadows that feemed fo green, Now lofe all their verdure of May; The cowflip and violet are seen

To droop, fade, and wither away. Bright Phoebus no longer can pleafe, ' Gay profpects no longer can charm;

E'en music afford me no eafe,

Tho' wont ev'ry paffion to calm;

My flocks too diforderly ftray,

And bleat their complaints in my ear; No more they leap, frolic and play, But fad, like their mafter, appear. But ah ! if my Julia were feen,

My lambs they'd rebound on the plain;
Each flow'ret would fpring on the green,
"And nightingales charm me again!
Return then, my fair one, return,

Your coming no longer delay;
O leave not your fhepherd to mourn,
But haften, my charmer, away.

THE goodness of women fome men will difpute,
But I fhall their arguments fairly confute;
Undeniably prove that they do what they ought,
And fay what you will, they are never in fault.
You fometimes object to their voluble tongues,
That they harrafs your ears, & destroy their own lurg
Should they talk, pretty creatures! from morning
From fifteen to fifty they're all in the right. [nigs
If refentment against the fair-fex you conceive,
Give attention to flanders, and flanders believe;
Behold their fweet faces-refentment will fly,
Vexation turn pleasure, and jealousy die.
The poets ftrange tales tell of Orpheus, you know,
How he went for his wife to the regions below;
But it must be a falfhood, because one fo fair,
So lovely and kind, was too good to go there.
No more at thefe charmers, ye unthinking, rail,
But o'er your barbarity let 'em prevail;
Perfection to kings and to females belong,
For women,
like monarchs, can never do wrong.

Like childish toys, to fome their joys,

But lovely woman's mine. With various arts fhe charms our hearts, And makes this life divine; For all the tricks of all the fex,

I'd ftill have woman mine.

Let ideots rave, who what they'd have"
The fex they can't define;
Just as the is, fhe's form'd to please,
And long be woman mine.
The fparkling eye, the melting figh,
When heart and heart conjoin;
The blifs of love, all blifs above,

Make charming woman mine.
In pomp and ftate, fucceed, ye great,
I'll envy nor repine;

If bleft with pow'r, to life's last hour,
To keep dear woman mine.

W

19

HEN I furvey thee, matchlefs fair,
Adorn'd with ev'ry charm;

O! how can I from love forbear?

Or how the paffion calm ?

Such beauteous charms in thee appear,
Bright as the morning fun:
Why gaze I, fimple shepherd, here,
And feek to be undone?

But nature ne'er defign'd us harm,

When the fuch skill employ'd;

Each heav'nly grace, and beauteous charm,
Were given to be enjoy'd.

Then let your beauteous fmiles confefs
Complacency of mind,

and ev'ry foft defire exprefs;

And as you're fair, be kind." Then you, replete with ev'ry grace, Will thew how you defpife afe little arts, coquetts embrace, To catch unguarded eyes. may you then with juftice claim The lofs they must deplore,

Unblemish'd manners, pureft fame,

When beauty'll be no more.

-- 20

SINCE ev'ry charm on earth's combin'd

In Chloe's face, in Chloe's mind,
Why was I börn, ye gods, to fee
What robs me of my liberty?

Until that fatal hapless day,
My heart was lively, blythe and gay,
Could fport with ev'ry nymph but the
Who robs me of my liberty.

Think then, dear Chloe, ere too late,
That death muft be my hapless fiate,
If love and you do not agree
To fet me at my liberty.

Now to the dark fome woods I rove,
Reflecting on the pains of love,
And envy every clown I fee
Enjoy the fweets of liberty.
We'll follow Hymen's happy train,"
And ev'ry idle care disdain;
We'll live in fweet tranquillity,
Nor with for greater liberty.

How blissful a ftate muft a batchelor's be;"
From one friend to t'other, with pleasure he roams,
Bor a batchelor's welcome wherever he comes.
If he's bleft with enough, & content with his station,
The whole world he may claim for his own recreation
He's in no place a ftranger from London to Rome,
For wherever he comes is a batchelor's home.

If a husband can boaft greater pleasure than thefe,
They're obtain'd at th' expence of his freedom & ease
Whilft with liberty, pleasure, & merriment crown'd,
A batchelor's minutes pafs jovially round.

Tho' his houfe ben't fo nice, he is fure to be neat, And the ladies are always well-pleas'd with his treat, By the fmack of their lips, at a parting, declare How delicions a feaft they think batchelor's fare

O rather, far rather, good fortune, for me,
The peaceable stall of a cobler decree,
Undifturb'd by the din of a termagant wife,
Than crown me a king and a cuckold for life.
To my wishes, inftead of a mistress, commend
The flid delights of a bottle and friend;
Go marry, if hen peck'd and wretched you'd be,
But if bleft, you'd continue ftill fingle as we.

22

FAR fweeter than the hawthorn bloom,
Whose fragrance sheds a rich perfume,
And all the meadows fill;

Much fairer than the lily blows,
More lovely than the blufhing rofe,
Is Patty of the Mill."

The neighbouring (wains her beauty fir'd,
With wonder ftruck they all admir'd,

And prais'd her from the hill;
Each ftrove, with all his ruftic art,
To footh and charm the honeft heart
Of Patty of the Mill.

But vain were all attempts to move
A fixed heart more true to love

Than turtles when they bill;
A chearful foul, a pleafing grace,.
And fweet content fmiles in the face
Of Patty of the Mill.

The good a friend in fortune find,
Exalts the honeft virtuous mind,
And guards it from all ill ;
Ye fair, for ever conftant prove,
Be ever kind, be true to love,
Like Patty of the Mill.

25

DAME nature, in forming a creature fo fair, Each beauty felected, then cull'd the most rare; Two bright conftellations fhe caught for her eyes A ftation fo bleft, can they with for their fkies? The gale lends its fweets, as from Paphos it blow The fnow drops its whitenefs, its blushes, the ro Bright Venus, her hair, as from ocean the fprung Sage Palas, the accents that fell from her tongue Tho' nature, in forming this creature fo fair, Each beauty felected, and cull'd the most rare; Yet fortune, her ftep dame, fevere and unkind, Is unjust to her worth, to her beauty is blind.

26

GIVE me but a wife, I expect not to find
Each virtue and grace in one female combined,
No goddess for me; 'tis a woman I prize,
And he that feeks more is more curious than w
Be the young, fhe's not ftubborn, but easy to mo
Or fhe claims my refpect, like a mother, if ole
Thus either can pleafe me, fince woman I prize
And he that feeks more is more curious than w
Like Venus fhe ogles, if fquinting her eye;
If blind fhe the roving of mine cannot fpy:
Thus either is lovely; for woman I prize,
And he that feeks more is more curious than
If rich be my bride, the brings tokens of love;
If poor, then the farther from pride my remove
Thus either contents me; for woman I prize,
And he that feeks more is more curious than w

I