Sacharissa's beauty's wine,
Which to madness doth incline;
Such a liquor as no brain
That is mortal can sustain.
[88]:
Yet, fairest blossom, do not slight
The age which you may know so soon.
The rosy morn resigns her light
And milder glory to the noon.
[89]:
He calls to mind his strength, and then his speed,
His winged heels, and then his armed head:
With these t' avoid, with that his fate to meet:
But fear prevails and bids him trust his feet.
So fast he flies, that his reviewing eye
Has lost the chasers, and his ear the cry.
[90]:
My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
Where Thames among the wanton valleys strays:
Thames, the most lov'd of all the Ocean's sons
By his old sire, to his embraces runs;
Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
Like mortal life to meet eternity.
Nor with a sudden and impetuous wave,
Like profuse kings, resumes the wealth he gave.
No unexpected inundations spoil
The mower's hopes, or mock the ploughman's toil,
But godlike his unweary'd bounty flows;
First loves to do, then loves the good he does.
O, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull:
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full....
But his proud head the airy mountain hides
Among the clouds; his shoulders and his sides
A shady mantle clothes; his curled brows
Frown on the gentle stream, which calmly flows;
While winds and storms his lofty forehead beat,
The common fate of all that's high or great.
[91]: Etheredge dans Sir Fopling Flutter, Wycherley dans Monsieur de Paris.
[92]: «I was always eminent for being bien ganté.» (Etheredge, Sir Fopling Flutter.)
[93]: De 1672 à 1726.