Amaz'd, within my secret self I fought,
What god, what herb, the miracle had wrought :
But sure no herbs have power like this, I cry'd;
And strait I pluck'd some neighbouring herbs, and try'd.
Scarce had I bit, and prov'd the wondrous taste,
When strong convulsions shook my troubled" breast;
I felt my heart grow fond of something strange,
And

my whole nature labouring with a change.
Restless I grew, and every place forfook,
And still upon the feas I bent

my

look.
Farewell, for ever! farewell, land! I faid;
And plung d amidst the waves my sinking head.
The gentle powers, who that low empire keep,
Receiv'd me as a brother of the deep ;
To Tethys, and to Ocean old, they pray,
To purge my mortal earthy parts away.
The watery parents to their fuit agreed,
And thrice nine times a secret charm they read,
Then with lustrations purify my limbs,
And bid me bathe beneath a hundred streams :
A hundred streams from various fountains run,
And on my head at once come rushing down.
Thus far each passage I remember well,
And faithfully thus far the tale I tell ;
But then oblivion dark on all my senses fell.
Again at length my thought reviving came,
When I no longer found myself the fame;
Then first this sea-green beard I felt to grow,
And these large honours on my spreading brow;
My long-descending locks the billows fweep,
And

my
broad shoulders cleave the yielding deep;

}

My fishy tail, my arms of azure hue,
And every part divinely chang’d, I view.
But what avail these useless honours now?
What joys can immortality bestow ?
What, though our Nereids all my form approve ?
What boots it, while fair Scylla scorns my love?

Thus far the god; and more he would have said;
When from his presence flew the ruthless maid.
Stung with repulse, in such disdainful fort,
He seeks Titanian Circe's horrid court,

CONTENTS

C Ο Ν Τ Ε Ν Τ S

OF

R O WE'S

PO E M S.

I

28

T from the Greek

(HE Golden Verses of Pythagoras. Translated

from the Greek On the late Glorious Success of her Majesty's Arms 8 Song On Nicolini and Valentini's first coming to the House in the Hay-market

30 Epilogue to the Inconstant: or, The Way to win him

ibid. Prologue to the Gamester

32 Epilogue spoken by Mrs. Barry at the Theatre Royal

in Drury-Lane, April 7, 1709, at her playing in Love for Love with Mrs. Bracegirdle, for the Benefit of Mr. Betterton

33 Epilogue to the Cruel Gift

35 Prologue to the Nonjuror Horace, Book II. Ode IV. imitated The Reconcilement between Jacob Tonson and Mr. Congreve

41 Horace, Book III. Ode XXI. To his Calk Horace, Book IV. Ode I. To Venus

45 Horace, Book I. Epistle IV. imitated

47 The Union On Contentment

ibid. On the last Judgment, and the Happiness of the Saints in Heaven

50 Collin's Complaint. A Song

51 Reply by another Hand

53 Epigram on a Lady who shed her Water at seeing the

39

42

49

Tragedy of Cato; occasioned by an Epigram on a Lady who wept at it

56 Imitated in Latin

ibid. Mæcenas. Verses occasioned by the Honours con

ferred on the Right Honourable the Earl of Halifax, 1714 ; being that Year installed Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter

57 Epigram on the Prince of Wales's, then Regent, ap

pearing at the Fire in Spring Gardens, 1716 18 Verses made to a Simile of Mr. Pope's

ibid. Song on a fine Woman who had a dull Husband 59 Occasioned by his first Visit to Lady Warwick at Holland House

60 Stanza's to Lady Warwick on. Mr. Addison's going abroad

ibid. The Visie

63 The Contented Shepherd, to Mrs. A-D-- ibid. Song Ah Willow. To the same, in her Sickness 65 To the same, Singing

69 Song. The fair Inconstant

68 To Lord Warwick on his Birth-Day

69 To Lady Jane Wharton, on her studying the Globe 70 To Mrs. Pulteney upon her going abroad

71 Ode for the New Year, 1716

ibid. Song for the King's Birth-Day, May 28, 1716 Ode for the New Year, 1717 to Peace, for the Year 1718

80 for the King's Birth-Day, 1718

82 to the Thames, for the Year, 1719

84 The Story of Glaucus and Scylla, from Ovid's Me. tamorphoses, Book XIII.

86 END OF ROWE’S POEMS.

76 78