OF PARNELL.
37
And yet, ye Nymphs, beware, his eyes have charms,
And Love that's naked, still is Love in arms.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
And Love that's naked, still is Love in arms.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
From Venus' bower to Delia's lodge repairs
A virgin train complete with modest airs:
"Chaste Delia, grant our suit! or shun the wood,
Nor stain this sacred lawn with savage blood.
Venus, O Delia! if she could persuade,
Would ask thy presence, might she ask a maid."
Here cheerful quires for three auspicious nights
With songs prolong the pleasurable rites:
Here crowds in measures lightly-decent rove,
Or seek by pairs the covert of the grove,
Where meeting greens for arbours arch above,
And mingling flowerets strew the scenes of love.[1]
A virgin train complete with modest airs:
"Chaste Delia, grant our suit! or shun the wood,
Nor stain this sacred lawn with savage blood.
Venus, O Delia! if she could persuade,
Would ask thy presence, might she ask a maid."
Here cheerful quires for three auspicious nights
With songs prolong the pleasurable rites:
Here crowds in measures lightly-decent rove,
Or seek by pairs the covert of the grove,
Where meeting greens for arbours arch above,
And mingling flowerets strew the scenes of love.[1]
- ↑ Sed tamen nimfæ cavete, quod Cupido pulcher est:
Totus est inermis idem, quando nudus est Amor.
Cras amet, qui numquam amavit; quique
amavit, cras amet.Compari Venus pudore mittit ad te virgines:
Una res est quam rogamus: cede virgo Delia;
Ut nemus sit incruentum de ferinis stragibus.
Ipsa vellet ut venires, si deceret virginem:
Jam tribus choros videres feriatos noctibus,
Congreges inter catervas, ire per saltus tuos,
