ODE.

YOu are deceiv'd; I sooner may dull fair▪
Seat a dark Mo…r in Cassiopea… chair,
Or on the Glow-worms uselesse Light
Bestow the watching flames of Night,
Or give the Ro…es breath
To executed Death,
Ere the bright hiew
Of Verse to you▪
It is just Heaven on Beauty s…amps a fame,
And we alass! its Triumphs but proclaim▪

What chains but are too light for me, should I
Say that Lucasta, in strange Arms could lie;
Or, that Castara were impure,
Or Saccaris's faith unsure:
That Chloris Love as hai…,
Embrac'd each En'mies air:
That all their good
Ran in their blood;
'Tis the same wrong th'unworthy to in…hrone,
As from her proper spheret' have vertue thrown.

That strange force on the ignoble hath renown,
As Aurum Fulminans, it blows Vice down;
'Twere better (heavy one) to crawl
Forgot, then raised trodon, fall:
All your defections now
Are not writ on your brow.
Odes to faults give
A shame, must live.
When a fat mist we view, we coughing run;
But that once Meteor drawn, all cry, undone.

How bright the fair Paulina did appear,
When hid in Jewels she did seem a Star:
But who could soberly behold
A wicked Owl in Cloath of Gold?
Or the ridiculous Ape,
In sacred Vest…s Shape?
So doth agree
Just Praise with thee;
For since thy birth gave thee no beauty, know
No Poets pencil must or can do so.