150

Adeo ut quiete expergefactus aureâ
Toros relinquat ipse Thrax amaranthinos,
Medioque tales captet Elyfio fonos,
Quales avaram suadeant Proserpinam
Nullâ obligatam lege sponsam reddere.
His fi redundes gaudiis, prudentis est,
Lætitia, tecum velle vitam degere.

155

Сс

BALL ADS, FABLES,

AND OTHER

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.

Adhuc supersunt multa, quæ poffim loqui,
Et copiosa abundat rerum varietas.

PHÆDRUS.

BA L L A D I.

1.

B.

Y a prattling stream, on a Midsummer's eve,
Where the woodbine and jeff’mine their boughs

interweave,
Fair Flora, I cry'd, to my arbour repair,
For I must have a chaplet for sweet William's hair.

II.
She brought me the vi’let that grows on the hill,
The vale-dwelling lilly, and gilded jonquill :
But such languid odours how cou'd I approve,
Just warm from the lips of the lad that I love.

III.
She brought me, his faith and his truth to display,
The undying myrtle, and ever-green bay :
But why these to me, who've his constancy known?
And Billy has laurels enough of his own.

IV.
The next was a gift that I could not contemn,
For she brought me two roses that grew

on a stem : Of the dear nuptial tie they stood emblems confeft, So I kiss'd 'em, and press d’em quite close to my breast.

V. She