[Page 74]
A PASTORAL DIALOGUE.
Damon.
1 O Theron, say what means that down-cast eye,
2 What new found grief has taught thy breast to sigh?
3 Has some intruding swain thy purpose crost?
4 Or has some favourite ewe her lambkin lost?
5 Assume thy wonted cheerfulness dear lad,
6 Or tell thy Damon why thou look'st so sad.
Theron.
7 Fresh as the spring, and fair as op'ning day,
8 My Jessy smil'd, and stole my heart away;
9 But when of love I did to her complain,
10 She scarcely smil'd, nor answer'd me again:
11 None e'er could think, but those that feel the smart,
12 So fair a form could hide so hard a heart.
Damon.
13 Ah, silly swain! and was thy beauty made,
14 For the cool frowns of one false nymph to fade?
15 O Theron, Theron, scorn the power of love,
16 Forbid the tender impulses to move:
17 See how that bee forsakes the blooming may,
18 And leaves it for the next that comes this way.
[Page 75]Theron.
19 Must I, like fickle Jessy, learn to slight?
20 Yes, — what my Damon says is always right.
21 See'st thou that nymph, beneath the shady tree?
22 She looks this way; I wish she look'd at me:
23 If e'er thy Theron should his heart transfer
24 From his lost Jessy, it must go to her.
Damon.
25 O say no more — no more of her, my friend;
26 For she is mine — my Doris! — O suspend —
27 Suspend thy choice, my swain, till thou hast seen
28 The village maids assemble on the green;
29 And if you would your fickle heart transfer,
30 Then take your choice of all the rest but her.
Theron.
31 Why are you angry now, my friend, my swain!
32 Your own advice I'll give you back again:
33 O Damon, Damon, scorn the power of love;
34 Forego your nymph, your simile to prove:
35 Forsake her, as the bee forsakes the may,
36 And I will be the next that comes this way.
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. 74-75. [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. ()
- LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. A PASTORAL. ()
- 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 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. ()