前奏曲。我爱的变态在没有爱情的动物看来，情人是一件多么奇怪的事!看哪，他在梦中漫步，说话，用他的夫人手套嘲弄我们;他穿的衣服多么异域;他的虔诚嘲弄了我们可怜的礼仪，用矛盾来吓唬那些不虔诚的人!他的灵魂，通过蔑视世俗的烦恼，以及甜蜜和苦涩的极端，以及对一切美好事物的沉思，变得机智和幻想;他哭泣着他的快乐，歌唱着他的悲伤，他总是在简单地描绘他的解脱中找到这样的快乐，以至于哀叹似乎治愈了他的困境;他制造自己的悲伤，其实根本没有悲伤;他的幻想忽冷忽热;他的第一个希望是，她可能不会被赢得; He sues, yet deprecates consent; Would she be captured she must fly; She looks too happy and content, For whose least pleasure he would die. Oh, cruelty, she cannot care For one to whom she's always kind! He says he's nought, but, oh, despair, If he's not Jove to her fond mind! He's jealous if she pets a dove, She must be his with all her soul; Yet 'tis a postulate in love That part is greater than the whole; And all his apprehension's stress, When he's with her, regards her hair, Her hand, a ribbon of her dress, As if his life were only there; Because she's constant, he will change, And kindest glances coldly meet, And, all the time he seems so strange, His soul is fawning at her feet; Of smiles and simple heaven grown tired, He wickedly provokes her tears, And when she weeps, as he desired, Falls slain with ecstasies of fears; He blames her, though she has no fault, Except the folly to be his; He worships her, the more to exalt The profanation of a kiss; Health's his disease; he's never well But when his paleness shames her rose; His faith's a rock-built citadel, Its sign a flag that each way blows; His o'erfed fancy frets and fumes; And Love, in him, is fierce, like Hate, And ruffles his ambrosial plumes Against the bars of time and fate. II The Power of Love Samson the Mighty, Solomon The Wise, and Holy David all Must doff their crowns to Love, for none But fell as Love would scorn to fall! And what may fallen spirits win, When stripes and precepts cannot move? Only the sadness of all sin, When look'd at in the light of Love. The Love-Letters. I `You ask, Will admiration halt, `Should spots appear within my Sun? `Oh, how I wish I knew your fault, `For Love's tired gaze to rest upon! `Your graces, which have made me great, `Will I so loftily admire, `Yourself yourself shall emulate, `And be yourself your own desire. `I'll nobly mirror you too fair, `And, when you're false to me your glass, `What's wanting you'll by that repair, `So bring yourself through me to pass. `O Dearest, tell me how to prove `Goodwill which cannot be express'd; `The beneficial heart of love `Is labour in an idle breast. `Name in the world your chosen part, `And here I vow, with all the bent `And application of my heart `To give myself to your content. `Would you live on, home-worshipp'd, thus, `Not proudly high nor poorly low? `Indeed the lines are fall'n to us `In pleasant places! Be it so. `But would you others heav'nward move, `By sight not faith, while you they admire? `I'll help with zeal as I approve `That just and merciful desire. `High as the lonely moon to view `I'll lift your light; do you decree `Your place, I'll win it; for from you `Command inspires capacity. `Or, unseen, would you sway the world `More surely? Then in gracious rhyme `I'll raise your emblem, fair unfurl'd `With blessing in the breeze of time. `Faith removes mountains, much more love; `Let your contempt abolish me `If ought of your devisal prove `Too hard or high to do or be.? II I ended. `From your Sweet-Heart, Sir,? Said Nurse, `The Dean's man brings it down.? I could have kiss'd both him and her! `Nurse, give him that, with half-a-crown.? How beat my heart, how paused my breath. When with perversely fond delay, I broke the seal, that bore a wreath Of roses link'd with one of bay. III `I found your note. How very kind `To leave it there! I cannot tell `How pleased I was, or how you find `Words to express your thoughts so well. `The Girls are going to the Ball `At Wilton. If you can, do come; `And any day this week you call `Papa and I shall be at home. `You said to Mary once?I hope `In jest?that women should be vain: `On Saturday your friend (her Pope), `The Bishop dined with us again. `She put the question, if they ought? `He turn'd it cleverly away `(For giddy Mildred cried, she thought `We must)