And mark you Red with many an eager Kiss.
A. My brighter Venus!
C. O my greater Mars!
A. Thou join'ft us well, my Love!
Suppofe me come from the Phlegraan Plains,
Where gafping Giants lay, cleft by my Sword,
And Mountain-Tops par'd off each other Blow,
To bury those I flew. Receive me Goddess;
Let Cafar fpread his fubtle Nets, like Vulcan.
In thy Embraces I would be beheld
By Heav'n and Earth at once;
And make their Envy what they meant their Sport.
Let those who took us blufh: I would love on
With awful State, regardless of their Frown,
As their fuperior God.
Venus embracing Vulcan.
The Goddess ftraight her Arms of snowy Hue
About her unrefolving Husband threw.
Her foft Embraces foon infufe Defire,
His Veins, his Marrow fuddain. Warmth infpire,
And all the Godhead feels the wonted Fire.
Not half fo fwift the rattling Thunder flies,
Or Streaks of Lightning flash along the Skies.
The Goddess proud of her fuccefsful Wiles,
And confcious of her Form, in fecret fmiles.
The Power obnoxious to her Charms,
Panting, and half diffolving in her Arms:
Snatch'd the willing Goddefs to his Breaft,
Till in her Lap infus'd, he lay poffefs'd
Of full Defire, and funk to pleafing Reft.
For what do Lovers when they're faft
In one another's Arms embrac'd;
But ftrive to plunder and convey
Each other like a Prize away?
EMPIRE and Emperour. See Greatness.
When Empire in its Childhood first appears,
A watchful Fate o'erfees its tender Years:
Till grown more strong, it thrufts, and stretches out,
And elbows all the Kingdoms round about:
The Place thus made for its first Breathing free,
It moves again for Eafe and Luxury:
Till, fwelling by Degrees, it has poffefs'd
The greater Space, and now crowds up the reft.
When from behind there ftarts fome petty State,
And pushes on its now unwieldy Fate:
Love is a Burglarer, a Felon,
That at the Window-Eye does steal in,
To rob the Heart, and with his Prey
Steals out again a clofer Way.
See the Heav'ns in Lightnings break,
Next in Storms of Thunder speak:
Then a kind Show'r from above
Brings a Calm: So 'tis in Love.
Flames begin our firft Addrefs,
Like meeting Thunder we embrace;
Then you know, the Show'rs that fall,
Quench the Fire, and quiet all.
How fhould I thofe Show'rs forget?
'Twas fo pleasant to be wet:
They kill'd Love, I know it well,
I dy'd oft as e'er they fell.
Phillis has a gentle Heart,
Willing to the Lover's Courting;
Wanton Nature, all Love's Art
To dire& her in her sporting:
In th'Embrace, the Look, the Kifs,
All is real Inclination :
No falfe Raptures in the Blifs,
No feign'd Sighing in the Paffion.
But oh! who the Charms can speak,
Who the thousands ways of toying!
When the does the Lover make,
All a God in her enjoying!
Who the Limbs that round him move,
And constrain him to the Bliffes!
Who the Eyes that fwim in Love,
And the Lips that fuck in Kiffes!
Oh the Freaks when mad fhe grows,
Raves all wild with the poffeffing!
Oh the filent Trance which fhews
The Delight above expreffing!
Ev'ry way the does engage,
Idly talking, fpeechlefs lying,
She tranfports me with the Rage,
And the kills me in her Dying.
Ye Gods! the Raptures of that Night!
What fierce Convulfions of Delight!
How in each others Arms involv'd
We lay, confounded, and diffolv'd!
Bodies mingling, Sexes blending,
Which fhould moft be loft contending,
Darting fierce and flaming Kiffes,
Plunging into boundless Bliffes;
Our Bodies, as our Souls, on Fire,
Toft by a Tempeft of Defire,
Till with utmost Fury driv'n,
Down at once we funk to Heav'n.
Thus when the youthful Pair more closely joyn,
When Arms in Arms they lock, and Thighs in Thighs they
Juft in the raging Foam of full Defire,
When both prefs on, both murmur, both expire;
They gripe, they fqueeze, their humid Tongues they dart,
As each would force their Way to t'other's Heart,
In vain They only cruife about the Coaft;
For Bodies cannot pierce, nor be in Bodies loft;
As fare they ftrive to be, when both engage
In that tumultuous momentary Rage.
So tangled in the Nets of Love they lie,
Till Man diffolves in that Excefs of Joy.
Then, when the gather'd Bag has burft its Way,
And ebbing Tides the flacken'd Nerves betray,
A Paufe enfues; and Nature nods a while,
Till with recruited Rage new Spirits boil;
And then the fame vain Violence returns;
With Flames renew'd th'ere&ted Furnace burns.
Again they in each other would be loft;
But ftill by adamantine Bars are croft.
From ev'ry Part, ev'n to their inmost Soul,
They feel the trickling Joys, and run with Vigour to the Goal.
Stirr'd with the fame impetuous Defire,
Birds, Beafts, and Herds, and Mares their Males require.
Because the throbbing Nature in their Veins
Provokes them to affwage their kindly Pains."
The lufty Leap, th'expecting Female ftands,
By mutual Heat compell'd to mutual Bands.
Thus Dogs with lolling Tongues by Love are ty'd,
Nor hooting Boys nor Blows their Union can divide.
At either End they strive the Link to loofe
In vain, for ftronger Venus holds the Noose.
'Tis with this Rage the Mother Lyon ftung,
Scours o'er the Plain, regardless of her Young:
Demanding Rites of Love, the fternly stalks,
And haunts her Lover in his lonely Walks:
'Tis then the shapelefs Bear his Den forfakes,
In Woods and Fields a wild Destruction makes
Boars whet their Tusks; to Battel Tygers move,
Enrag'd with Hunger; more inrag'd with Love.
The Stallion fnuffs the well-known Scent from far;
And fnorts, and trembles for the distant Mare:
Nor Bits, nor Bridles can his Rage restrain;
And rugged Rocks are interpos'd in vain.
He makes his Way o'er Mountains, and contemns
Unruly Torrents, and unforded Streams.
The briftled Boar, who feels the pleasing Wound,
New grinds his arming Tusks, and digs the Ground:
The fleepy Lecher fhuts his little Eyes,
About his churning Chaps the frothy Bubbles rife :
He rubs his Sides againft a Tree, prepares,
And hardens both his Shoulders for the Wars.
The youthful Bull is oft with Love poffefs'd;
With Two fair Eyes his Miftrefs burns his Breast,
He looks, and languishes, and leaves his Reft.
Forfakes his Food, and pining for the Lafs,
Is joyless of the Grove, and fpurns the growing Grafs.
The foft Seducer, with enticing Looks,
The bellowing Rivals to the Fight provokes.
A beauteous Heifer in the Woods is bred ;
The ftooping Warriours, aiming Head to Head,
Engage their clashing Horns with dreadful Sound;
The Forreft rattles, and the Rocks rebound.
They fence, they push, and pushing loudly roar,
Their Dewlaps and their Sides are bath'd in Gore.
Nor when the War is over is it Peace,
Nor will the vanquifh'd Bull his Claim release:
But feeding in his Breaft his antient Fires,
And curling Fate, from his proud Foe retires.
Driv'n from his native Land to foreign Grounds,
He with a gen'rous Rage refents his Wounds,
His ignominious Flight, the Victor's Boaft;
And more than both, the Loves, which unreveng'd he loft.
Often he turns his Eyes, and with a Groan,
Surveys the pleafing Kingdoms, once his own;
And therefore to repair his Strength he tries,
Hard'ning his Limbs with painful Exercife,
And rough upon the flinty Rock he lies.
On prickly Leaves, and on fharp Herbs he feeds;
Then to the Prelude of a War proceeds.
His Horns, yet fore, he tries against a Tree,
And meditates his abfent Enemy:
He fnuffs the Wind, his Heels the Sand excite;
But when he stands collected in his Might,
He roars, and promises a more fuccessful Fight.
Then to redeem his Honour at a Blow,
He moves his Camp, to meet his careless Foe :
Nor with more Madness, rolling from afar,
The fpumy Waves proclaim the wat'ry War:
And mounting upwards with a mighty Roar,
March onward and infult the rocky Shore:
They mate the middle Region with their Height,
And fall no less than with a Mountain's Weight:
The Waters boil, and belching from below,
Black Sands as from a forceful Engine throw.
I pass the Wars that spotted Linxes make
With their fierce Rivals, for the Females Sake;
The howling Wolves, the Maftiff's am'rous Rage,
When ev'n the fearful Stag dares for his Hind engage.
But far above the reft the furious Mare,
Barr'd from the Male, is frantick with Defpair;
Of Love defrauded in her longing Hour,
She tears the Harnefs, and the rends the Rein:
For Love fhe'll force thro' Thickets of the Wood,
And climb the fteepy Hills, and ftem the Flood.
Thus ev'ry Creature, and of ev'ry Kind,
The fecret Joys of fweet Coition find;
Not only Man's imperial Race, but they
That wing the liquid Air or fwim the Sea;
Or haunt the Defart, rush into the Flame:"
For Love is Lord of all, and is in all the fame.
Ev'n rugged Lions love,
And grapple and compel their favage Dames.
Once in a Seafon Beasts too taste of Love;
Only the Beast of Reafon is. its Slave,
And in that Folly drudges all the Year.
Love's Power's too great to be withstood
By feeble human Flesh and Blood:
'Twas he that brought upon his Knees
The he&t'ring Kill-Cow Hercules ;
Reduc'd his Leaguer-Lion's Skin
T'a Petticoat, and made him fpin;
Seiz'd on his Club, and made it dwindle
T'a feeble Distaff and a Spindle.
He made the beauteous Queen of Crete
To take a Town-Bull for her Sweet.
'Twas he made Veftal Maids Love-fick,
And venture to be bury'd quick.
'Tis he that proudeft Dames enamours
On Lacquays and Valets de Chambres ;
Their haughty Stomachs overcomes,
And makes them ftoop to dirty Grooms;
To flight the World, and to difparage
Claps, Iffue, Infamy, and Marriage.
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