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LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

A PASTORAL.

1 Two nymphs to whom the pow'rs of verse belong,
2 Alike ambitious to excel in song,
3 With equal sweetness sang alternate strains,
4 And courteous echo told the list'ning plains;
5 That of her lover sung, this of her friend;
6 Ye rural nymphs and village swains attend.
Celia.
7 O Love, soft sov'reign, ruler of the heart!
8 Deep are thy wounds, and pleasing is the smart;
9 When Strephon smiles the wint'ry fields look gay,
10 Cold hearts are warm'd, and hard ones melt away.
Sylvia.
11 Through ev'ry scene of temp'ral bliss is there
12 A greater blessing than a friend sincere?
13 'Tis Corydon that bears that tender name,
14 And Sylvia's breast returns the gen'rous flame.
Celia.
15 When happy I survey my Strephon's charms,
16 His beauty holds me faster than his arms,
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17 My heart is in a flood of pleasures toss'd,
18 I faint, I die, and am in raptures lost.
Sylvia.
19 And what are all these tumults of the heart,
20 But certain omens of a future smart?
21 In friendship we more solid comforts find,
22 It cheers the heart, nor leaves a sting behind.
Celia.
23 Surely no lark in spring was e'er so glad
24 To see the morn, as I to see my lad;
25 At his approach all anxious griefs remove,
26 And ev'ry other joy gives place to love.
Sylvia.
27 O happy I! with such a friend to live!
28 Our joys united double pleasure give;
29 Our inmost thoughts with freedom we unfold,
30 And grief's no longer grief, when once 'tis told.
Celia.
31 All that is lovely in my swain I find,
32 But am to all his imperfections blind;
33 What have I said? I surely do him wrong,
34 No imperfections can to him belong.
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Sylvia.
35 The faithful friend sees with impartial eyes,
36 Nor scorns reproof, but speaks without disguise;
37 Blind to all faults, the eager lover sues,
38 Friends see aright, and ev'ry fault excuse.
39 Then Daphne from beneath a hawthorn sprung,
40 Where she attentive sat to hear the song;
41 Her breast was conscious of the tender glow,
42 That faithful friends, in mutual friendship know;
43 Her tender heart, by love's impulses mov'd,
44 With ardour beat to sing the swain she lov'd;
45 With emulation fir'd, the conscious maid
46 Thus to the fair contending virgins said.
Daphne.
47 Blest Celia, happy in a lover dear;
48 Blest Sylvia, happy in a friend sincere;
49 But surely I am doubly blest to find,
50 At once a friend sincere, and lover kind;
51 My Thirsis is my friend, my friend I say
52 And who in love can bear a greater sway
53 Strephon must his superior power own,
54 Nor is he less sincere than Corydon.

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Title (in Source Edition): LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. A PASTORAL.
Author: Elizabeth Hands (née Herbert)
Themes:
Genres: heroic couplet; pastoral

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Hands, Elizabeth, 1746-1815. The death of Amnon. A poem. With an appendix: containing pastorals, and other poetical pieces. By Elizabeth Hands. [Coventry]: Printed for the author, by N. Rollason, Coventry, M,DCCLXXXIX., 1789, pp. 66-68. [40],127,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T141063) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Dunston B 961 (1)].)

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Other works by Elizabeth Hands (née Herbert)