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[Page 40]
Dialogue. Alexis and Laura.
Laur.
1 Alexis. —
Alex.
1 Dear!
Laur.
1 Take —
Alex.
1 What?
Laur.
1 A Kiss.
Alex.
2 What means this Unexpected Bliss,
[Page 41]3 A Bliss which I so oft in Vain
4 Have crav'd, and now unaskt obtain?
Laur.
5 When to my Swain reserv'd I seem'd,
6 I Lov'd him, Kist him Less esteem'd!
Alex.
7 Dear Nymph, your Female Arts forbear,
8 Nor fondly thus new Ginns prepare
9 For one already caught i'th'snare.
10 You may impose a heavier Chain,
11 But none that surer will retain.
12 'Tis Laura, an unjust design
13 To Treat so Plain a Soul as mine
14 With Oracles; with mystick sense
15 Religion may perhaps dispense,
16 But these Aenigmas mar Love's Joy,
17 As Clouds Gems in their worth destroy.
Laur.
18 Then take it on your Peril Swain,
19 (Since you compel me to be plain)
[Page 42]20 The Kiss I gave you was in lieu
21 Of all Love-debts from Laura due,
22 To Swain Alexis, since the Hour
23 Of our first Entrance on Amour.
Alex.
24 What Crimes can I have wrought t'enforce
25 This suddain and severe Divorce?
26 'Tis, sure, impossible such Guilt
27 Should press my Soul and not be felt.
Laur.
28 Recall false Shepheard what to day
29 I heard you to Dorinda say.
30 You said she did Noons Light out-shine,
31 More than the Paphian Queen Divine.
32 You vow'd respect to her Commands,
33 And (Heav'n Forgive you) Kist her Hands.
Alex.
[Page 43]34 You wrong me Nymph, by Pan you do;
35 For if that Courtship you review,
36 You'l find 'twas Complement to you.
Laur.
37 Yes, I was Sov'rainly respected
38 By Pray'rs t' Another Saint directed.
Alex.
39 Dorindas Graces, 'tis well known,
40 Bear such Resemblance with your own,
41 That when I made my late Address,
42 'Twas in that gentle Shepherdess
43 The sweetness of those Charms to tast,
44 Which so divinely Laura grac't.
Laur.
45 Weak Nymphs with Men contend in Vain,
46 Who thus can their Defaults maintain.
47 Wise Nature has her care exprest,
48 That neither Sex shou'd be Opprest;
49 For when to Us she did commit
50 Tyrannick Beauty, she thought fit
51 To Teach Men Wit and Arts t' Allay
52 And Temper Beauties Absolute Sway.
Source edition
Tate, Nahum, c. 1652-1715. Poems by N. Tate. London: Printed by T.M. for Benj. Tooke ..., 1677, pp. 40-43. [15],133p. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 2953].)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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 Nahum Tate
- Advice to a Friend, designing to Publish his Poems. ()
- Amor Sepulchralis. ()
- The Amorist. ()
- The Amusement. ()
- The Banquet. ()
- The Beldam's Song. ()
- The Challenge. ()
- The Choice. ()
- The Confinement. ()
- The Counter-Turn. ()
- The Cure. A Dialogue. ()
- Disappointed. ()
- The Disconsolate. ()
- The Discovery. ()
- Disswasion of an Aged Friend from Leaving his Retirement. ()
- The Dream. ()
- The Escape. ()
- The Gold-hater. ()
- The Gratefull Shepheard. ()
- The Hurricane. ()
- The Ignorant. ()
- The Inconstant. A Paraphrase on the XV. Epod of Horace. ()
- The Indispos'd. ()
- The Ingrates. ()
- The Installment. ()
- Laura's Walk. ()
- The Male Content. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 1. Epigr. CX. De Issa Catellâ Publij. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 1. Epigr. IX. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 1. Epigr. XIV. De Arriâ & Paeto. ()
- [Martial] Lib. 9. Epigr: VI. ()
- [Martial] Lib. XI. Epigr. XCV. Translated in Dialogue. ()
- [Martial] Lib. XI. Epigr. XLIII. ()
- The Match. ()
- Melancholy. ()
- The Mid-Night Thought. ()
- ODE. To my Ingenious Friend Mr. Flatman. ()
- Of the Ape and the Fox. A Paraphrase on one of the Centum Fabulae. ()
- Of the Few Adherers to Virtue. ()
- On a deform'd Old Baw'd designing to have her Picture drawn. ()
- On a Diseased Old Man, who Wept at thought of leaving the World. ()
- On a Grave Sir retiring to Write in Order to undeceive the World. ()
- On an Old Miser that Hoarded his Treasure in a Steel Chest, and bury'd it. ()
- On Sight of some Martyr's Sepulchres. ()
- On Snow fall'n in Autumn, and dissolv'd by the Sun. ()
- ON THE Present Corrupted State OF POETRY. ()
- The Parting. ()
- The Pennance. ()
- The Politicians. ()
- The Prospect. ()
- Recovering from a Fit of Sickness. ()
- The Request. ()
- The Requitall. ()
- The Restitution. ()
- The Round. ()
- The Search. ()
- Sliding on Skates in very hard Frost. ()
- Strephon's Complaint on quitting his Retirement. ()
- The Surprizal. ()
- The Tear. ()
- The three First Verses of the 46th Psalm Paraphras'd. ()
- To a Desponding Friend. ()
- TO Mr. THOMAS FLATMAN ON HIS Excellent POEMS. ()
- The Unconfin'd. ()
- The Usurpers. ()
- The Vision, Written in a dangerous fit of Sickness. ()
- The Vow-Breaker. ()
- The Voyagers. ()