THE WEDDING. DESCRIPTION OF THE BRIDE. I TELL thee, Dick, where I have been, The maid-and thereby hangs a tale For such a maid no Whitson ale Could ever yet produce: No grape that's kindly ripe could be Her finger was so small, the ring Her feet beneath her petticoat, As if they fear'd the light: But oh! she dances such a way! Is half so fine a sight. He wou'd have kist her once or twice, She wou'd not do't in sight; And then she look'd as who shou'd say, I will do what I list to day, And you shall do't at night. Her cheeks so rare a white was on, (Who sees them is undone) For streaks of red were mingled there, The side that's next the sun. Her lips were red, and one was thin, (Some bee had stung it newly); Her mouth so small, when she does speak, But she so handled still the matter, SONG. WHY so pale and wan, fond lover? Will, when looking well can't move her, Pr'ythee, why so pale ? Why so dull and mute, young sinner? Will, when speaking well can't win her, Pr'ythee, why so mute? Quit, quit for shame! this will not move, If of herself she will not love, RICHARD LOVELACE. BORN 1618-DIED 1658. THERE is something peculiarly affecting in the fate of this gallant cavalier, and tender and elegant poet. He was the eldest son of Sir William Lovelace of Woolwich, in Kent, and, according to the old censor, Wood, who seldom overpraises poets or poetry, "was the most amiable and beautiful person that eye ever beheld,-a person of innate modesty, virtue, and courtly deportment, and much admired by the fair sex." Lovelace was for some time in the army, and in early youth suffered a long imprisonment for presenting a petition to the House of Commons, from the county of Kent, praying for the restoration of the King to his rights. He spent almost his whole fortune in the royal cause, and, when it had perished, raised a regiment for the French King, of which he was colonel. In an engagement Lovelace was severely wounded, and the lady to whom he was devoted, married, in the alleged belief that he had died of his wounds. Lovelace afterwards returned to England, and was again imprisoned on suspicion. He died at last at freedom, but in great poverty and obscurity, in a poor lodging near Shoe-Lane, London, TO ALTHEA, FROM PRISON. WHEN love, with unconfined wings, The "birds," (a) that wanton in the air, When flowing cups run swiftly round When healths and draughts go free,- When, like committed linnets, I (a) In the original it is "gods." The correction, which is very happy, is Dr Percy's. When I shall voice aloud how good He is, how great should be,Enlarged winds that curl the flood Know no such liberty. Stone walls do not a prison make, TO A ROSE. SWEET, serene, sky-like flower, From thy long cloudy bed Vermilion ball that's given From lip to lip in heaven; Love's couch's coverlid: Haste, haste, to make her bed. See! rosy is her bower, Her floor is all this flower; Her bed a rosy nest, |