While my blood is thus warm, I ne'er shall reform, To mix in the Platonists' school; Of this I am sure, Was my Passion so pure, Thy _Mistress_ would think me a fool. [vii] 8 [viii] And if I should shun, Every _woman_ for _one,_ Whose _image_ must fill my whole breast; Whom I must _prefer,_ And _sigh_ but for _her,_ What an _insult_ 'twould be to the _rest!_ 9. Now Strephon, good-bye; I cannot deny, Your _passion_ appears most _absurd;_ Such _love_ as you plead, Is _pure_ love, indeed, For it _only_ consists in the _word_. [Footnote 1: The letters "J. M. B. P." are added, in a lady's hand, in the annotated copy of 'P. on V. Occasions', p. 17 (British Museum).] [Footnote i: 'But still'. [4to]] [Footnote ii: 'But since the chaste kiss.' [4to]] [Footnote iii: 'Such wonderful.' [4to]] [Footnote iv: 'I've kiss'd a good number. But-----' [4to]] [Footnote v: 'I ne'er will advance.' [4to]] [Footnote vi: 'Yet a frown won't affright.' [4to. 'P. on V. Occasions.']] [Footnote vii: 'My mistress must think me.' [4to. 'P. on V. Occasions.']] [Footnote viii: 'Though the kisses are sweet, Which voluptuously meet, Of kissing I ne'er was so fond, As to make me forget, Though our lips oft have met, That still there was something beyond.' [4to] THE CORNELIAN. [1] 1. No specious splendour of this stone Endears it to my memory ever; With lustre _only once_ it shone, And blushes modest as the giver. [i] 2. Some, who can sneer at friendship's ties, Have, for my weakness, oft reprov'd me; Yet still the simple gift I prize, For I am sure, the giver lov'd me. 3. He offer'd it with downcast look, As _fearful_ that I might refuse it; I told him, when the gift I took, My _only fear_ should be, to lose it. 4. This pledge attentively I view'd, And _sparkling_ as I held it near, Methought one drop the stone bedew'd, And, ever since, _I've lov'd a tear._ 5. Still, to adorn his humble youth, Nor wealth nor birth their treasures yield; But he, who seeks the flowers of truth, Must quit the garden, for the field. 6. 'Tis not the plant uprear'd in sloth, Which beauty shews, and sheds perfume; The flowers, which yield the most of both, In Nature's wild luxuriance bloom. 7. Had Fortune aided Nature's care, For once forgetting to be blind, _His_ would have been an ample share, If well proportioned to his mind. 8. But had the Goddess clearly seen, His form had fix'd her fickle breast; _Her_ countless hoards would _his_ have been, And none remain'd to give the rest.