124

JANUARY AND MAY.

Whatever was the caufe, the tender dame 4^0Felt the firft motions of an infant flame;Receiv’d th’ impreffions of the lovc-fick Squire,And wafted in the foft infe£lious fire.

Ye fair, draw near, let May’s example moveYour gentle minds to pity thofe who love! 435Had fome fierce tyrant in her flead been found,The poor adorer fure had hang’d, or drown’d:Bat fhe, your fex’s mirrour, free from pride,

W as much too meek to prove a homicide..

But to my tale: Some fages have defin’d 440Pleafure the fov’reign blifs of human-kind:

Our Knight (who fludy’d much, rve may fuppofe)Deriv’d his high philofophy from thofe;

For, like a Prince, he bore the vaft expenceOf lavifh pomp, and proud magnificence: 445His houfe was flateiy, his retinue gay,

Large was his train, and gorgeous his array.

His fpacions garden made to yield to none,Was compafs’d round with walls of folid flone;Priapus could not half deferibe the grace 45o(l'ho’ God of Gardens) of this charming place:A place to tire the rambling wits of France In long deferiptions, and exceed Romance:Enough to fharne the gentleft bard that fingsOf painted meadows, and of purling fprings. 455Full in the centre of the flow’ry ground,

A cryfial fountain fpiead its Breams around,

The fruitful banks with verdant laurels crown’d: