Since love and verse, as well as wine, Are brisker where the sun does shine, 'Tis something to lose two degrees, Now age itself begins to freeze: Yet this I patiently could bear, } If the rough Danube's beauties were } But only two degrees less fair } Than the bright nymphs of gentle Thames, Who warm me hither with their beams: Such power they have, they can dispense Five hundred miles their influence. But hunger forces men to eat, Though no temptation's in the meat. How would the ogling sparks despise The darling damsel of my eyes, Should they behold her at a play, As she's tricked up on holiday, When the whole family combine, For public pride, to make her shine! Her locks, which long before lay matted, Are on this day combed out and plaited; A diamond bodkin in each tress, The badges of her nobleness; For every stone, as well as she, Can boast an ancient pedigree. These formed the jewel erst did grace The cap of the first Grave[36] o' the race, Preferred by Graffin[37] Marian To adorn the handle of her fan; And, as by old record appears, Worn since in Kunigunda's years, Now sparkling in the froein's hair;[38] } No rocket breaking in the air } Can with her starry head compare. } Such ropes of pearl her arms encumber, She scarce can deal the cards at omber; So many rings each finger freight, They tremble with the mighty weight. The like in England ne'er was seen, Since Holbein drew Hal[39] and his queen: But after these fantastic flights, The lustre's meaner than the lights. The thing that bears this glittering pomp Is but a tawdry ill-bred romp, Whose brawny limbs and martial face Proclaim her of the Gothic race, More than the mangled pageantry Of all the father's heraldry. But there's another sort of creatures, Whose ruddy look and grotesque features Are so much out of nature's way, You'd think them stamped on other clay, No lawful daughters of old Adam. 'Mongst these behold a city madam, With arms in mittins, head in muff, A dapper cloak, and reverend ruff: No farce so pleasant as this maukin, And the soft sound of High-Dutch talking. Here, unattended by the Graces, The queen of love in a sad case is. Nature, her active minister, Neglects affairs, and will not stir; Thinks it not worth the while to please, But when she does it for her ease. Even I, her most devout adorer, With wandering thoughts appear before her, And when I'm making an oblation, } Am fain to spur imagination } With some sham London inclination: } The bow is bent at German dame, The arrow flies at English game. Kindness, that can indifference warm, And blow that calm into a storm,