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THE key, which opes the chest of hoarded gold.
Unlocks the heart that favours would withhold.
To this the god of love has oft recourse,
When arrows fail to reach the secret source,
And I’ll maintain he’s right, for, ‘mong mankind,
Nice presents ev’ry where we pleasing find;
Kings, princes, potentates, receive the same,
And when a lady thinks she’s not to blame,
To do what custom tolerates around;
When Venus’ acts are only Themis’ found,
I’ll nothing ‘gainst her say; more faults than one,
Besides the present, have their course begun.

A MANTUAN judge espoused a beauteous fair:
Her name was Argia:–Anselm was her care,
An aged dotard, trembling with alarms,
While she was young, and blessed with seraph charms.
But, not content with such a pleasing prize,
His jealousy appeared without disguise,
Which greater admiration round her drew,
Who doubtless merited, in ev’ry view,
Attention from the first in rank or place
So elegant her form, so fine her face.

‘TWOULD endless prove, and nothing would avail,
Each lover’s pain minutely to detail:
Their arts and wiles; enough ’twill be no doubt,
To say the lady’s heart was found so stout,
She let them sigh their precious hours away,
And scarcely seemed emotion to betray.

WHILE at the judge’s, Cupid was employed,
Some weighty things the Mantuan state annoyed,
Of such importance, that the rulers meant,
An embassy should to the Pope be sent.
As Anselm was a judge of high degree,
No one so well embassador could be.

‘TWAS with reluctance he agreed to go,
And be at Rome their mighty Plenipo’;
The business would be long, and he must dwell
Six months or more abroad, he could not tell.
Though great the honour, he should leave his dove,
Which would be painful to connubial love.
Long embassies and journeys far from home
Oft cuckoldom around induce to roam.

THE husband, full of fears about his wife;
Exclaimed–my ever–darling, precious life,
I must away; adieu, be faithful pray,
To one whose heart from you can never stray
But swear to me, my duck, (for, truth to tell,
I’ve reason to be jealous of my belle,)
Now swear these sparks, whose ardour I perceive,
Have sighed without success, and I’ll believe.
But still your honour better to secure,
From slander’s tongue, and virtue to ensure,
I’d have you to our country-house repair;
The city quit:–these sly gallants beware;
Their presents too, accurst invention found,
With danger fraught, and ever much renowned;
For always in the world, where lovers move,
These gifts the parent of assentment prove.
‘Gainst those declare at once; nor lend an ear
To flattery, their cunning sister-peer.
If they approach, shut straight both ears and eyes;
For nothing you shall want that wealth supplies;
My store you may command; the key behold,
Where I’ve deposited my notes and gold.
Receive my rents; expend whate’er you please;
I’ll look for no accounts; live quite at ease;
I shall be satisfied with what you do,
If naught therein to raise a blush I view;
You’ve full permission to amuse your mind;
Your love, howe’er, for me alone’s designed;
That, recollect, must be for my return,
For which our bosoms will with ardour burn.

THE good man’s bounty seemingly was sweet;
All pleasures, one excepted, she might greet;
But that, alas! by bosoms unpossessed,
No happiness arises from the rest:
His lady promised ev’ry thing required:–
Deaf, blind, and cruel,–whosoe’er admired;
And not a present would her hand receive
At his return, he fully might believe,
She would be found the same as when he went,
Without gallant, or aught to discontent.