[Page 118]

The CAUTIOUS LOVERS.

1 SIlvia, let's from the Croud retire;
2 For, What to you and me
3 (Who but each other do desire)
4 Is all that here we see?
[Page 119]
5 Apart we'll live, tho' not alone;
6 For, who alone can call
7 Those, who in Desarts live with One,
8 If in that One they've All?
9 The World a vast Meander is,
10 Where Hearts confus'dly stray;
11 Where Few do hit, whilst Thousands miss
12 The happy mutual Way:
13 Where Hands are by stern Parents ty'd,
14 Who oft, in Cupid's Scorn,
15 Do for the widow'd State provide,
16 Before that Love is born:
17 Where some too soon themselves misplace;
18 Then in Another find
19 The only Temper, Wit, or Face,
20 That cou'd affect their Mind.
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21 Others (but oh! avert that Fate!)
22 A well-chose Object change:
23 Fly, Silvia, fly, ere 'tis too late;
24 Fall'n Nature's prone to range.
25 And, tho' in heat of Love we swear
26 More than perform we can;
27 No Goddess You, but Woman are,
28 And I no more than Man.
29 Th' impatient Silvia heard thus long;
30 Then with a Smile reply'd:
31 Those Bands cou'd ne'er be very strong,
32 Which Accidents divide.
33 Who e'er was mov'd yet to go down,
34 By such o'er-cautious Fear;
35 Or for one Lover left the Town,
36 Who might have Numbers here?
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37 Your Heart, 'tis true, is worth them all,
38 And still preferr'd the first;
39 But since confess'd so apt to fall,
40 'T is good to fear the worst.
41 In ancient History we meet
42 A flying Nymph betray'd;
43 Who, had she kept in fruitful Crete,
44 New Conquests might have made.
45 And sure, as on the Beach she stood,
46 To view the parting Sails;
47 She curs'd her self, more than the Flood,
48 Or the conspiring Gales.
49 False Theseus, since thy Vows are broke,
50 May following Nymphs beware:
51 Methinks I hear how thus she spoke,
52 And will not trust too far.
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53 In Love, in Play, in Trade, in War
54 They best themselves acquit,
55 Who, tho' their Int'rests shipwreckt are,
56 Keep unreprov'd their Wit.

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Title (in Source Edition): The CAUTIOUS LOVERS.
Author: Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea
Themes: love
Genres: epigram

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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. 118-122. [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