1.
Your pardon, my friend,
If my rhymes did offend,
Your pardon, a thousand times o'er;
From friendship I strove,
Your pangs to remove,
But, I swear, I will do so no more.
2.
Since your 'beautiful' maid,
Your flame has repaid,
No more I your folly regret;
She's now most divine,
And I bow at the shrine,
Of this quickly reformed coquette.
3.
Yet still, I must own, i
I should never have known,
From 'your verses', what else she deserv'd;
Your pain seem'd so great,
I pitied your fate,
As your fair was so dev'lish reserv'd.
4.
Since the balm-breathing kiss ii
Of this magical Miss,
Can such wonderful transports produce; iii
Since the '"world you forget,
When your lips once have met,"'
My counsel will get but abuse.
5.
You say, "When I rove,"
"I know nothing of love;"
Tis true, I am given to range;
If I rightly remember,
'I've lov'd' a good number; iv
Yet there's pleasure, at least, in a change.
6.
I will not advance, v
By the rules of romance,
To humour a whimsical fair;
Though a smile may delight,
Yet a 'frown' will 'affright,' vi
Or drive me to dreadful despair.
7.
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'.
Footnote ii: 'But since the chaste kiss.'
Footnote iii: 'Such wonderful.'
Footnote iv:
'I've kiss'd a good number.
But -- -'
Footnote v:
'I ne'er will advance.'
Footnote vi:
'Yet a frown won't affright.'
. 'P. on V. Occasions.'
Footnote vii:
'My mistress must think me.'
. '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.'
