The Poetical Works of the Right Hon. George Granville, Lord Lansdowne/70

by George Granville

TO MIRA.

Since truth and conſtancy are vain,
Since neither love, nor ſenſe of pain,
Nor force of reaſon, can perſuade,
Then let example be obey’d.
In courts and cities could you ſee5
How well the wanton fools agree,

Were all the curtains drawn, you ’d find
Not one, perhaps, but who is kind.
Minerva, naked from above,
With Venus and the wise of Jove,10
Expoſing ev’ry beauty bare,
Deſcended to the Trojan heir;
Yet this was ſhe whom poets name
Goddeſs of Chaſtity and Fame.
Penelope, her lord away,15
Gave am‘’rous audiences all day;
Now round the bowl the ſuitors ſit,
With wine provoking mirth and wit;
Then down they take the ſtubborn bow;
Their ſtrength, it ſeems, ſhe needs muſt know:20
Thus twenty cheerful winters paſt;
She ’s yet immortaliz’d for chaſte.
Smile, Mira! then; reward my flame,
And be as much ſecure of fame:
By all thoſe matchleſs beauties fir’d,25
By my own matchleſs love inſpir’d,
So will I ſing, ſuch wonders write,
That, when th’ aſtoniſh’d world ſhall cite
A nymph of ſpotleſs worth and fame,
Mira ſhall be th’ immortal name.