[Page 35]

To a LADY: She refusing to continue a Dispute with me, and leaving me in the Argument.

An ODE.

I.
1 Spare, Gen'rous Victor, spare the Slave,
2 Who did unequal War pursue;
3 That more than Triumph He might have,
4 In being overcome by You.
II.
5 In the Dispute whate'er I said,
6 My Heart was by my Tongue bely'd;
7 And in my Looks You might have read,
8 How much I argu'd on your side.
III.
9 You, far from Danger as from Fear,
10 Might have sustain'd an open Fight:
11 For seldom your Opinions err:
12 Your Eyes are always in the right.
[Page 36]
IV.
13 Why, fair One, would You not rely
14 On Reason's Force with Beauty's join'd?
15 Could I their Prevalence deny;
16 I must at once be deaf and blind.
V.
17 Alas! not hoping to subdue,
18 I only to the Fight aspir'd:
19 To keep the beauteous Foe in view
20 Was all the Glory I desir'd.
VI.
21 But She, howe'er of Vict'ry sure,
22 Contemns the Wreath too long delay'd;
23 And, arm'd with more immediate Pow'r,
24 Calls cruel Silence to her Aid.
VII.
25 Deeper to wound, See shuns the Fight:
26 She drops her Arms, to gain the Field:
27 Secures her Conquest by her Flight;
28 And triumphs, when She seems to yield.
VIII.
29 So when the Parthian turn'd his Steed,
30 And from the Hostile Camp withdrew;
31 With cruel Skill the backward Reed
32 He sent; and as He fled, He slew.

Text

  • TEI/XML [chunk] (XML - 70K / ZIP - 7.9K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 1.3K / ZIP - 908 )

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [H 6.8 Art.].)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 2.4M)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): To a LADY: She refusing to continue a Dispute with me, and leaving me in the Argument. An ODE.
Author: Matthew Prior
Themes:
Genres: address

Text view / Document view

Source edition

Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721. Poems on Several Occasions [English poems only]. London: Printed for JACOB TONSON at Shakespear's-Head over against Katharine-Street in the Strand, and JOHN BARBER upon Lambeth-Hill. MDCCXVIII., 1718, pp. 35-36. [42],506,[6]p.: ill.; 2°. (ESTC T075639) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [H 6.8 Art.].)

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 Matthew Prior