SEE HOW FAIR CORINNA LIES. SIR GEORGE ETHEREGE. See, how fair Corinna lies, In her blushes see your shame,- While the happy minute is, Dull Amintor! fie, Oh! fie: [In Southern's "Disappointment, or the Mother in Fashion."] ON A YOUNG LADY WHO SUNG FINELY, AND WAS AFRAID OF A COLD. LORD ROSCOMMON. Died 1684. Winter, thy cruelty extend, Yet we unwoo'd will sit and smile, And thou, bless'd genius of our isle, May that celestial sound each day And kindly drives our cares away; [The Life of the Earl of Roscommon has been written with great elegance by Dr. Johnson. He was born in Ireland during the lieu tenancy of his Uncle and Godfather Lord Strafford.] TO ALL YOU LADIES NOW AT LAND. LORD DORSET. Born 1637-Died 1706. To all you Ladies now at land, But first would have you understand How hard it is to write; The muses, now, and Neptune too, For though the muses should prove kind, Yet if rough Neptune rouse the wind Our paper, pen, and ink, and we, Roll up and down our ships at sea. Then, if we write not by each post, Our tears we'll send a speedier way, The king, with wonder and surprise, But let him know it is our tears Bring floods of grief to Whitehall-stairs. Should foggy Opdam chance to know The Dutch would scorn so weak a foe, And quit their fort at Goree : For what resistance can they find From men who've left their hearts behind? With a fa, &c. Let wind and weather do its worst, Be ye to us but kind; Let Dutchmen vapour, Spaniards curse, 'Tis then no matter how things go, Or who's our friend, or who's our foe. To pass our tedious hours away, We throw a merry main, Or else at serious ombre play; But now our fears tempestuous grow, Whilst you, regardless of our woe, Perhaps permit some happier man When any mournful tune you hear, As if it sigh'd with each man's care Think then how often love we've made And now we've told you all our loves, Some pity for our tears, Let's hear of no inconstancy, We have too much of that at sea. With a fa, la, la, la, la. [This Song" written at sea, in the first Dutch war, 1665, the night before an Engagement," is the composition of Charles, Sixth Earl of Dorset, according to Horace Walpole, "the finest gentleman in the voluptuous court of Charles II." Dr. Johnson heard from Lord Orrery that "he had been a week about it and only retouched it or finished it on the memorable Evening." See Johnson's Life of Dorset. "The grace of courts, the Muses pride."] |