The peaceful Place where gladly I resort, Is freed from noisy Factions of the Court: There joy’d with viewing o’er the rural Scene, Pleas’d with the Meadows ever green, The Woods and Groves with tuneful Anger move, And nought is heard but gentle Sighs of Love: The Nymphs and Swains for rural Sports prepare, And each kind Youth diverts his smiling Fair. But if by Chance is found a flinty Maid, Whose cruel Eyes has Shepherds Hearts betray’d, In other Climes a Refuge she must find, Banish’d from hence Society of Kind. Here gentle _Isis_, with a Bridegroom’s Haste, Glides to o’ertake the _Thame_, as fair, as chaste; Then mixt, embracing, they together flie; They Live together, and together Die. Here ev’ry Object adds to our Delight, Calm is our Day, and peaceful is our Night. Then, kind _Æmilia_, flie that hated Town, Where’s not a Moment thou canst call thy own: Haste for to meet a Happiness divine, And share the Pleasures I count only mine. _P. S._ A SONG. 1. ‘Tis not your saying that you love, Can ease me of my Smart; Your Actions must your Words approve, Or else you break my Heart. 2. In vain you bid my Passion cease, And ease my troubled Breast; Your Love alone must give me Peace, Restore my wonted Rest. 3. But, if I fail your Heart to move, And ‘tis not yours to give; I cannot, wonnot cease to love, But I will cease to live. _A. Behn._ PROLOGUE _to_ ROMULUS, _Spoken by Mrs._ Butler. _Written by Mrs._ Behn.