Can hearken coldly to my Sharper's vows?
Then when he trembles, when his blushes rise,
When awful love seems melting in his eyes?
With eager beats his Mechlin cravat moves :
He loves, I whisper to myself, he loves!
Such unfeign'd passion in his looks

appears,

I lose all mem'ry of my former fears:
My panting heart confesses all his charms,
I yield at once, and sink into his arms.

Think of that moment, you who prudence boast,
For such a moment, prudence well were lost.

CARDELIA.

At the Groom-porter's, batter'd bullies play, Some dukes at Marybone bowl time away. But who the bowl, or rattling dice compares To bassette's heav'nly joys, and pleasing cares?

SMILINDA.

Soft Simplicetta doats upon a beau ;
Prudina likes a man, and laughs at show.
Their several graces in my Sharper meet :
Strong as the footman, as the master sweet.

LOVEIT.

Cease your contention, which has been too long;

Pour résister aux traits du banquier qui m'est cher:
Sur-tout, quand à vos pieds, triste, inquiet, timide,
D'une larme d'amour l'œil tendrement humide,
Il vous peint ses desirs; quand ses doigts amoureux
Doucement sur son front caressent ses cheveux;
Qu'étalant sa cravate il jure qu'il vous aime;
Qui pourrait résister à ce danger extrême?

Un

ange eût succombé ; je ne résistai pas,
Un soupir me perdit, me jetta dans ses bras.
Prudes, qui de vos sœurs critiquez la faiblesse,
Contre un charme si doux qu'eût fait votre sagesse ?,

CARDÉLIE.

En habit d'amazone Iris court à cheval,
Lise en robe de crêpe aime à valser au bal;
Chevaux, danse, je plains la femme qui vous aime;
Un creps, un trente et un, voilà le bien suprême!

BÉLINDE.

Rose aime un élégant au teint pâle et défait,
Araminte un guerrier ferme sur le jarret ;

Mon banquier les éclipse, et le ciel l'a fait naître

Fort comme un grenadier, doux comme un petit-maître.

LOVETT.

Mesdames, c'est assez; le thé sera trop fort,

I grow impatient, and the tea's too strong.
Attend, and yield to what I now decide:
The equipage shall grace Smilinda's side;

The snuff-box to Cardelia I decree :
Now leave complaining, and begin your tea.

Et je vais à mon tour, pour vous mettre d'accord,
Prononcer sans appel dans cette grande affaire :
Je donne à vous la boîte, à vous le nécessaire;
Chacune aura le prix qu'elle a bien mérité,
Et chacune avec moi viendra prendre le thé.

SAVAGE.

IN

THE BASTARD.

gayer hours, when high my fancy ran, The muse, exulting, thus her lay began: Bless'd be the bastard's birth! thro' wond'rous ways He shines eccentric like a comet's blaze. No sickly fruit of faint compliance he ; He, stamp'd in nature's mint of estasy. He lives to build, not boast a gen'rous race; No tenth transmitter of a foolish face. His daring hope no sire's example bounds; His first-born lights no prejudice confounds; He, kindling from within, requires no flame; He glories in a bastard's glowing name.

Born to himself, by no possession led, In freedom foster'd, and by fortune fed, Nor guides, nor rules, his sov'reign choice control, His body independent as his soul;

Loos'd to the world's wide range, enjoin'd no aim, Prescrib'd no duty, and assign'd no name,