[Page 235]

SONG. To SYLVIA.

By D. G.
1 IF truth can fix thy wav'ring heart,
2 Let Damon urge his claim,
3 He feels the passion void of art,
4 The pure, the constant flame.
5 Tho' sighing swains their torments tell,
6 Their sensual love contemn;
7 They only prize the beauteous shell,
8 But slight the inward gem.
9 Possession cures the wounded heart,
10 Destroys the transient fire;
11 But when the mind receives the dart,
12 Enjoyment whets desire.
[Page 236]
13 By age your beauty will decay,
14 Your mind improves with years;
15 As when the blossoms fade away,
16 The rip'ning fruit appears:
17 May heav'n and Sylvia grant my suit,
18 And bless the future hour,
19 That Damon, who can taste the fruit,
20 May gather ev'ry flow'r!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): SONG. To SYLVIA.
Author: David Garrick
Themes: love
Genres: ballad metre; Chevy Chase stanza; song
References: DMI 22543

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. III. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 235-236. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.003) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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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.