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The Shepherd Piping to the Fishes.

1 Shepherd seeking with his Lass,
2 To shun the Heat of Day;
3 Was seated on the shadow'd Grass,
4 Near which a flowing Stream did pass,
5 And Fish within it play.
6 To Phillis he an Angle gave,
7 And bid her toss the Line;
8 For sure, quoth he, each Fish must have,
9 Who do's not seek to be thy Slave,
10 A harder Heart than mine.
11 Assemble here you watry Race,
12 Transportedly he cries;
13 And if, when you behold her Face,
14 You e'er desire to quit the Place,
15 You see not with my Eyes.
16 But you, perhaps, are by the Ear,
17 More easie to be caught;
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18 If so, I have my Bagpipe here,
19 The only Musick that's not dear,
20 Nor in great Cities bought.
21 So sprightly was the Tune he chose,
22 And often did repeat;
23 That Phillis, tho' not up she rose,
24 Kept time with every thrilling Close,
25 And jigg'd upon her Seat.
26 But not a Fish wou'd nearer draw,
27 No Harmony or Charms,
28 Their frozen Blood, it seems, cou'd thaw,
29 Nor all they heard, nor all they saw,
30 Cou'd woo them to such Terms.
31 The angry Shepherd in a Pett,
32 Gives o'er his wheedling Arts,
33 And from his Shoulder throws the Net,
34 Resolv'd he wou'd a Supper get
35 By Force, if not by Parts.
36 Thus stated Laws are always best
37 To rule the vulgar Throng,
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38 Who grow more Stubborn when Carest,
39 Or with soft Rhetorick addrest,
40 If taking Measures wrong.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The Shepherd Piping to the Fishes.
Themes: relations between the sexes
Genres: pastoral

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Source edition

Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of, 1661-1720. Miscellany poems, on several occasions: Written by the Right Honble Anne, Countess of Winchilsea. London: printed for J. B. and sold by Benj. Tooke, William Taylor, and James Round, 1713, pp. 27-29. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea