Poetry Codex

Restoration & Augustan

Philip Ayres

1638–1712

Philip Ayres (1638–1712) was an English poet and translator, born at Cottingham and educated at Westminster and St John's College, Oxford. He became tutor in the family of Montague Garrard Drake of Amersham, Buckinghamshire, and lived with them until his death on 1 December 1712.

His chief work is Lyric Poems, Made in Imitation of the Italians (1687), a collection of sonnets, songs and original pieces together with many translations from Italian, Spanish, Latin and Greek poets. One copy of verses is addressed to his friend John Dryden.

Poems (79)

  1. The Request: To Love (Sonnet)
  2. On a Race-Horse
  3. On the Death of Cynthia's Horse (Sonnet)
  4. Describes the Place Where Cynthia Is Sporting Her Self
  5. His Retirement
  6. Of Love (Sonnet)
  7. On the Picture of Lucretia Stabbing Her Self
  8. Complains, Being Hindred the Sight of His Nymph
  9. The Pleas'd Captive (Song)
  10. The Incurable (Song)
  11. The Rose and Lily (Sonnet)
  12. Distance
  13. On the Picture of Cavalier Guarini (Sonnet)
  14. On Old Rome
  15. Revenge Against Cynthia (Song)
  16. Invites His Nymph to His Cottage
  17. 'Tis Hard to Follow Vertue
  18. See how the Hills are candy'd o're with Snow
  19. Love's Garden
  20. Complains of the Court
  21. Being Retired, Complains Against the Court
  22. The Withered Rose
  23. On the Death of Sylvia (Sonnet)
  24. To the Winds (Song)
  25. The Silent Talkers
  26. On Wine
  27. The Restless Lover
  28. The Resolution (Sonnet)
  29. Invokes Death
  30. A Hint from the Beginning of the Third Satyr of Juvenal
  31. A Contemplation on Man's Life
  32. Cure for Afflictions
  33. Cynthia Sporting
  34. The Fly
  35. To His Grace, George Duke of Northumberland
  36. The Vanity of Unwarrantable Notions
  37. Cynthia Sleeping in a Garden (Sonnet)
  38. Lesbia's Complaint Against Thyrsis His Inconstancy (Sonnet)
  39. On Lydia Distracted (Sonnet)
  40. The Four Seasons
  41. Unhappy I came from my Mother's Womb
  42. An Expostulation with Love
  43. Less Security at Sea than on Shore
  44. On Cynthia Sick (Sonnet)
  45. The Turtle Doves
  46. Sleeping Eyes
  47. To the Swallow
  48. Love so as to Be Belov'd Again
  49. Love a Spirit
  50. To Sweet Meat, Soure Sauce
  51. The Young Fowler That Mistook His Game
  52. Cupid's Nest
  53. To His Mistress
  54. To Love
  55. On a Death's-Head, Covered with Cobwebs (Sonnet)
  56. My Riches are a Trusty Sword, and Spear
  57. Complains of the Shortness of Life
  58. His Heart, into a Bird
  59. Mortal Iealousie
  60. The Happy Nightingale
  61. On Fame
  62. Leander Drowned
  63. To Sleep (When Sick of a Fever)
  64. An Epigram on Woman
  65. Cynthia Returned from the Country
  66. A Paean, or Song of Triumph
  67. Beauty Makes Us Happy
  68. To a Singing Bird
  69. The Happy Lover
  70. Why dost thou fly me thus? Oh cruel Boy!
  71. The Trophy
  72. On the Sphere of Archimedes
  73. The Frailty of Man's Life
  74. Of the Miseries Attending Mankind
  75. To Make a Married Life Happy
  76. The Contempt of Old Age
  77. In Praise of Old Age
  78. Of Imprudence
  79. On a Fair Beggar

See Philip Ayres in the full archive →