[Page 66]
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.
A PASTORAL.
1 Two nymphs to whom the pow'rs of verse belong,
2 Alike ambitious to excel in song,
3 With equal sweetness sang alternate strains,
4 And courteous echo told the list'ning plains;
5 That of her lover sung, this of her friend;
6 Ye rural nymphs and village swains attend.
Celia.
7 O Love, soft sov'reign, ruler of the heart!
8 Deep are thy wounds, and pleasing is the smart;
9 When Strephon smiles the wint'ry fields look gay,
10 Cold hearts are warm'd, and hard ones melt away.
Sylvia.
11 Through ev'ry scene of temp'ral bliss is there
12 A greater blessing than a friend sincere?
13 'Tis Corydon that bears that tender name,
14 And Sylvia's breast returns the gen'rous flame.
Celia.
15 When happy I survey my Strephon's charms,
16 His beauty holds me faster than his arms,
[Page 67]17 My heart is in a flood of pleasures toss'd,
18 I faint, I die, and am in raptures lost.
Sylvia.
19 And what are all these tumults of the heart,
20 But certain omens of a future smart?
21 In friendship we more solid comforts find,
22 It cheers the heart, nor leaves a sting behind.
Celia.
23 Surely no lark in spring was e'er so glad
24 To see the morn, as I to see my lad;
25 At his approach all anxious griefs remove,
26 And ev'ry other joy gives place to love.
Sylvia.
27 O happy I! with such a friend to live!
28 Our joys united double pleasure give;
29 Our inmost thoughts with freedom we unfold,
30 And grief's no longer grief, when once 'tis told.
Celia.
31 All that is lovely in my swain I find,
32 But am to all his imperfections blind;
33 What have I said? I surely do him wrong,
34 No imperfections can to him belong.
[Page 68]Sylvia.
35 The faithful friend sees with impartial eyes,
36 Nor scorns reproof, but speaks without disguise;
37 Blind to all faults, the eager lover sues,
38 Friends see aright, and ev'ry fault excuse.
39 Then Daphne from beneath a hawthorn sprung,
40 Where she attentive sat to hear the song;
41 Her breast was conscious of the tender glow,
42 That faithful friends, in mutual friendship know;
43 Her tender heart, by love's impulses mov'd,
44 With ardour beat to sing the swain she lov'd;
45 With emulation fir'd, the conscious maid
46 Thus to the fair contending virgins said.
Daphne.
47 Blest Celia, happy in a lover dear;
48 Blest Sylvia, happy in a friend sincere;
49 But surely I am doubly blest to find,
50 At once a friend sincere, and lover kind;
51 My Thirsis is my friend, my friend I say
52 And who in love can bear a greater sway
53 Strephon must his superior power own,
54 Nor is he less sincere than Corydon.
About this text
Author: Elizabeth Hands (née Herbert)
Themes:
Genres:
heroic couplet; pastoral
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Hands, Elizabeth, 1746-1815. The death of Amnon. A poem. With an appendix: containing pastorals, and other poetical pieces. By Elizabeth Hands. [Coventry]: Printed for the author, by N. Rollason, Coventry, M,DCCLXXXIX., 1789, pp. 66-68. [40],127,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T141063) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Dunston B 961 (1)].)
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 Elizabeth Hands (née Herbert)
- ABSENCE AND DEATH. A PASTORAL. ()
- ABSENCE. ()
- CONTENTMENT. ()
- CORINNA TO LYCIDAS. ()
- CRITICAL FRAGMENTS, ON SOME OF THE ENGLISH POETS. ()
- THE DEATH OF AMNON. A POEM. ()
- An ELEGY. ()
- An ENIGMA. ()
- An EPISTLE. ()
- The FAVOURITE SWAIN. ()
- FRIENDSHIP. An ODE. ()
- LEANDER AND BELINDA. A TALE. ()
- LOB's COURTSHIP. ()
- OBSERVATION ON THE WORKS of NATURE. ()
- OBSERVATION, On an EVENING. ()
- OBSERVATION. ()
- On a WEDDING. ()
- On an UNSOCIABLE FAMILY. ()
- On CONTEMPLATIVE EASE. ()
- On reading Pope's Eloiza to Abelard. ()
- On the Author's LYING-IN, AUGUST, 1785. ()
- A PASTORAL DIALOGUE. ()
- A PASTORAL SONG. ()
- A PASTORAL. [As Thirsis and Daphne, upon the new hay] ()
- A PASTORAL. [Young Corydon, a blithesome swain] ()
- A PASTORAL. [Young Damon gay, a faithful-hearted swain] ()
- PERPLEXITY. A POEM. ()
- PHILLIS TO DAMON. A SONG. ()
- A POEM, On the Supposition of an Advertisement appearing in a Morning Paper, of the Publication of a Volume of Poem, by a Servant Maid. ()
- A POEM, On the Supposition of the Book having been published and read. ()
- REFLECTION on MEDITATION. ()
- REFLECTION. ()
- The RURAL MAID in LONDON, To her FRIEND in the COUNTRY. An EPISTLE. ()
- A SONG. [Far from the woods, alas, I rove] ()
- A SONG. [When Chloe, smiling, gave consent] ()
- A SONG. [Ye swains cease to flatter, our hearts to obtain] ()
- THIRSIS AND DAPHNE. A POEM. ()
- To THIRSIS, On his signifying his intention to lay aside his Hautboy. ()
- The WIDOWER's COURTSHIP. ()
- WIT AND BEAUTY. A PASTORAL. ()
- Written on Their MAJESTIES coming to Kew. ()
- Written while the Author sat on a COOK of HAY. ()
- Written, originally extempore, on seeing a Mad HEIFER run through the Village where the Author lives. ()