EXTRACTS FROM AN OPERA.

O!
! WERE I one of the Olympian twelve,
Their godships should pass this into a law,-
That when a man doth set himself in toil
After some beauty veiled far away,

Each step he took should make his lady's hand
More soft, more white, and her fair cheek more fair;
And for each briar-berry he might eat,

A kiss should bud upon the tree of love,
And pulp and ripen richer every hour,
To melt away upon the traveller's lips.

DAISY'S SONG.

I.

The sun, with his great eye,
Sees not so much as I ;

And the moon, all silver-proud,
Might as well be in a cloud.

2.

And O the spring-the spring!
I lead the life of a king!
Couch'd in the teeming grass,
I spy each pretty lass.

3.

I look where no one dares,

And I stare where no one stares,

And when the night is nigh,

Lambs bleat my lullaby.

FOLLY'S SONG.

When wedding fiddles are a-playing,
Huzza for folly O!

And when maidens go a-Maying,

Oh, I am frighten'd with most hateful thoughts!
Perhaps her voice is not a nightingale's,
Perhaps her teeth are not the fairest pearl;
Her eye-lashes may be, for aught I know,
Not longer than the May-fly's small fan-horns;
There may not be one dimple on her hand
And freckles many; ah! a careless nurse,
In haste to teach the little thing to walk,
May have crumpt up a pair of Dian's legs,
And warpt the ivory of a Juno's neck.

SONG.

I.

The stranger lighted from his steed,

And ere he spake a word,

He seiz'd my lady's lilly hand,

And kiss'd it all unheard.

2.

The stranger walk'd into the hall,
And ere he spake a word,
He kiss'd my lady's cherry lips,
And kiss'd 'em all unheard.

3.

The stranger walk'd into the bower,—

But my lady first did go,

Aye hand in hand into the bower,
Where my lord's roses blow.

4.

My lady's maid had a silken scarf,

And a golden ring had she,

And a kiss from the stranger, as off he went Again on his fair palfrey.

Asleep! O sleep a little while, white pearl!
And let me kneel, and let me pray to thee,
And let me call Heaven's blessing on thine eyes.
And let me breathe into the happy air,

That doth enfold and touch thee all about,

Vows of my slavery, my giving up,

My sudden adoration, my great love!

SHARING EVE'S APPLE.

I.

BLUSH not so! O blush not so!

Or I shall think you knowing; And if you smile the blushing while, Then maidenheads are going.

2.

There's a blush for won't, and a blush for shan't,
And a blush for having done it:

There's a blush for thought and a blush for nought,
And a blush for just begun it.

3.

O sigh not so! O sigh not so!

For it sounds of Eve's sweet pippin;

By these loosen'd lips you have tasted the pips
And fought in an amorous nipping.

4.

Will you play once more at nice-cut-core,
For it only will last our youth out,
And we have the prime of the kissing time,
We have not one sweet tooth out.

5.

There's a sigh for yes, and a sigh for no,
And a sigh for I can't bear it!

O what can be done, shall we stay or run?
O cut the sweet apple and share it!

SONG.

I HAD a dove and the sweet dove died;

And I have thought it died of grieving:
O, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied,
With a silken thread of my own hand's weaving;
Sweet little red feet! why should you die—
Why should you leave me, sweet bird! why?
You liv'd alone in the forest-tree,

Why, pretty thing! would you not live with me?
I kiss'd you oft and gave you white peas;
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees?

SONNET.

To a Lady seen for a few Moments at Vauxhall.

TIME'S sea hath been five years at its slow ebb,
Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand,
Since I was tangled in thy beauty's web,

And snared by the ungloving of thine hand.
And yet I never look on midnight sky,

But I behold thine eyes' well memory'd light;

I cannot look upon the rose's dye,

But to thy cheek my soul doth take its flight.

I cannot look on any budding flower,

But my fond ear, in fancy at thy lips

And harkening for a love-sound, doth devour

Its sweets in the wrong sense :-Thou dost eclipse

Every delight with sweet remembering,

And grief unto my darling joys dost bring.