Verses lost upon a Wager.

AS soon hereafter will I wagers lay,
'Gainst what an Oracle shall say,
Fool, that I was, to venture to denie
A Tongue so us'd to victorie!
A Tongue so blest by Nature and by Art,
That never yet it spoke but gain'd an Heart:
Though what you said, had not been true
If spoke by any else but you▪
Your speech will govern Destiny,
And Fate will change rather then you should Ly.

'Tis true If Humane Reason were the Guide,
Reason, methinks, was on my side,
But that's a Guide, alas, we must resign,
When th'Authoritie's Divine.
She said, she said herself it would be so;
And I, bold unbeliever answer'd No,
Never so justly sure before
Error the name of Blindness bore,
For whatsoe're the Question be,
There's no man that has eyes would bet for Me.

If Truth it self (as other Angels do
When they descend to humane view)
In a Material Form would daign to shine,
'Twould imitate or borrow Thine,
So daz'eling bright, yet so transparent clear,
So well proportion'd would the parts appear;
Happy the eye which Truth could see
Cloath'd in a shape like Thee,
But happier far the eye
Which could thy shape naked like Truth espy!

Yet this lost wager costs me nothing more
Then what I ow'ed to thee before.
Who would not venture for that debt to play
Which He were bound howere to pay?
If Nature gave me power to write in verse,
She gave it me thy praises to reherse.
Thy wondrous Beauty and Thy Wit
Has such a Sov'eraign Right to it,
That no Mans Muse for publique vent is free,
Till she has paid her Customs first to Thee.