Earl of Rochester." i§g

With other Pretenders, whose Names I’d rehearse,

But they are too long to stand in my Verse.

Apollo, quite tir’d with their tedious Harangue, ■*Finds at last Tom Betterton'i Face in the Gang; VAnd since Posts with the kind Players may hang, 3By his own Day-light he solemnly swore,

That in Search ss a Laureat he’d look out no more.A general Murmur ran quite thro' the Hall,

To think that the Bays to an Actor should fall; >

But Apollo, to quiet and pacify all, 3

E’en told them, to put his Deserts to the Test,That he had made Plays as well as the best,

And was the great’st Wonder the Age ever bore;For, of all the Play-Scriblers that e’er writ before,His Wit had most Worth and most Modesty in’t;For he had writ Plays, yet ne’er put ’em in Print.

A Lyrick POEM:

In Imitation of Cornelius Gallius,

I.

M Y Goddess Lydia, heav’nly Fair,As Lillies sweet, as soft as Air;Let loose thy Tresses, spread thy Charms,And to my Love give frelh Alarms.

II.

O let me gaze on those bright Eyes,Tho’ sacred Light’ning from them flies:Show me that soft, that modest Gr^ce,Which paints with charming Red thy Face.

nr*