Soft, my child: I did not chide thee,
Though my song might sound too hard;
'Tis thy mother sits beside thee,
And her arms shall be thy guard.

Yet to read the shameful story

How the Jews abused their King,
How they served the Lord of Glory,
Makes me angry while I sing.

See the kinder shepherds round Him,
Telling wonders from the sky!

Where they sought Him, there they found Him,
With His Virgin mother by.

See the lovely babe a-dressing;
Lovely infant, how He smiled!
When He wept, the mother's blessing
Soothed and hush'd the holy child.

Lo, He slumbers in His manger,
Where the hornèd oxen fed:
Peace, my darling; here's no danger,
Here's no ox anear thy bed.

'Twas to save thee, child, from dying,
Save my dear from burning flame,
Bitter groans and endless crying,
That thy blest Redeemer came.

May'st thou live to know and fear Him,
Trust and love Him all thy days;
Then go dwell for ever near Him,
See His face, and sing His praise!

THOMAS PARNELL

1679-1718

436.

Song

W HEN thy beauty appears

In its graces and airs

All bright as an angel new dropp'd from the sky,
At distance I gaze and am awed by my fears:
So strangely you dazzle my eye!

But when without art

Your kind thoughts you impart,

When your love runs in blushes through every vein; When it darts from your eyes, when it pants in your heart,

Then I know you're a woman again.

There's a passion and pride

In our sex (she replied),

And thus, might I gratify both, I would do:
Still an angel appear to each lover beside,

But still be a woman to you.

437.

MY

ALLAN RAMSAY

Peggy

Y Peggy is a young thing,
Just enter'd in her teens,
Fair as the day, and sweet as May,
Fair as the day, and always gay;

1686-1758

My Peggy is a young thing,
And I'm not very auld,

Yet well I like to meet her at
The wawking of the fauld.

My Peggy speaks sae sweetly
Whene'er we meet alane,

I wish nae mair to lay my care,
I wish nae mair of a' that's rare;
My Peggy speaks sae sweetly,
To a' the lave I'm cauld,
But she gars a' my spirits glow
At wawking of the fauld.

My Peggy smiles sae kindly
Whene'er I whisper love,

That I look down on a' the town,
That I look down upon a crown;
My Peggy smiles sae kindly,

It makes me blyth and bauld,
And naething gi'es me sic delight
As wawking of the fauld.

My Peggy sings sae saftly
When on my pipe I play,

By a' the rest it is confest,
By a' the rest, that she sings best;
My Peggy sings sae saftly,

And in her sangs are tauld
With innocence the wale of sense,
At wawking of the fauld.

wawking] watching.

lave] rest.

wale] choice, best.

WILLIAM OLDYS

1687-1761

438. On a Fly drinking out of his Cup

USY, curious, thirsty fly!

BUSY,

Drink with me and drink as I:

Freely welcome to my cup,
Couldst thou sip and sip it up:
Make the most of life you may,
Life is short and wears away.

Both alike are mine and thine
Hastening quick to their decline:
Thine's a summer, mine 's no more,
Though repeated to threescore.

Threescore summers, when they're gone,
Will appear as short as one!

RUDDIER than the cherry!
O sweeter than the berry!
O nymph more bright

Than moonshine night,

Like kidlings blithe and merry !
Ripe as the melting cluster!

No lily has such lustre ;

Yet hard to tame

As raging flame,

And fierce as storms that bluster !

1688-1732

ALEXANDER POPE

440. On a certain Lady at Court

I

KNOW a thing that's most uncommon;
(Envy, be silent and attend!)

I know a reasonable woman,

Handsome and witty, yet a friend.

Not warp'd by passion, awed by rumour;

1688-1744

Not grave through pride, nor gay through folly; An equal mixture of good-humour

And sensible soft melancholy.

'Has she no faults then (Envy says), Sir?'
Yes, she has one, I must aver :

When all the world conspires to praise her,
The woman's deaf, and does not hear.

441. Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady

WHAT beck'ning ghost, along the moonlight shade

Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade? 'Tis she!-but why that bleeding bosom gored, Why dimly gleams the visionary sword?

O, ever beauteous, ever friendly! tell,

Is it, in Heav'n, a crime to love too well?
To bear too tender or too firm a heart,
To act a lover's or a Roman's part?
Is there no bright reversion in the sky
For those who greatly think, or bravely die?