_Fair Goddess of my just Desire,_ _Inspirer of my softest Fire!_ _Since you, from out the num’rous Throng_ _That to your Altars do belong,_ _To me the Sacred Myst’ry have reveal’d,_ _From all my Rival-Worshippers conceal’d;_ _And toucht my Soul with heav’nly Fire,_ _Refin’d it from its grosser Sense,_ _And wrought it to a higher Excellence;_ _It can no more return to Earth,_ _Like things that thence receive their Birth;_ _But still aspiring, upward move,_ _And teach the World new Flights of Love;_ _New Arts of Secrecy shall learn,_ _And render Youth discreet in Love’s Concern._ _In his soft Heart, to hide the charming things_ _A Mistress whispers to his Ear;_ _And e’ery tender Sigh she brings,_ _Mix with his Soul, and hide it there._ _To bear himself so well in Company,_ _That if his Mistress present be,_ _It may be thought by all the Fair,_ _Each in his Heart does claim a Share,_ _And all are more belov’d than she._ _But when with the dear Maid apart,_ _Then at her Feet the Lover lies;_ _Opens his Soul, shews all his Heart,_ _While Joy is dancing in his Eyes._ _Then all that Honour may, or take, or give,_ _They both distribute, both receive._ _A Looker-on wou’d spoil a Lover’s Joy;_ _For Love’s a Game where only two can play._ _And ‘tis the hardest of Love’s Mysteries,_ _To feign Love where it is not, hide it where it is._ After having told you, my lovely _Iris_, that I design to put your _Watch_ into a Heart, I ought to shew you the Ornaments of the Case. I do intend to have ‘em crown’d Cyphers: I do not mean those Crowns of Vanity, which are put indifferently on all sorts of Cyphers; no, I must have such as may distinguish mine from the rest, and may be true Emblems of what I would represent. My four Cyphers therefore shall be crown’d with these four Wreaths, of Olive, Laurel, Myrtle, and Roses: and the Letters that begin the Names of _Iris_ and _Damon_ shall compose the Cyphers; tho’ I must intermix some other Letters that bear another Sense, and have another Signification. _The First_ CYPHER. The first Cypher is compos’d of an _I_ and a _D_, which are join’d by an _L_ and an _E_; which signifies _Love Extreme_. And ‘tis but just, Oh adorable _Iris_! that Love should be mixt with our Cyphers, and that Love alone should be the Union of ‘em. _Love ought alone the Mystick Knot to tie;_ _Love, that great Master of all Arts:_ _And this dear_ Cypher _is to let you see,_ _Love unites Names as well as Hearts._