Mary then, and gentle Anne,
Both to reign at once began;

Alternately they sway'd;
And sometimes Mary was the fair
And sometimes Anne the crown did wear,

And sometimes both I obey'd.

Another Mary then arose,
And did rigorous laws impose;

A mighty tyrant she !
Long, alas ! should I have been
Under that iron-sceptered queen,

Had not Rebecca set me free.

When fair Rebecca set me free,
'Twas then a golden time with me :

But soon those pleasures fled :
For the gracious princess dy'd,
In her youth and beauty's pride,

And Judith reigned in her stead.

One month, three days, and half an hour, Judith held the sovereign power :

Wond'rous beautiful her face ! But so wear wd small her wit, That she to govern was unfit,

And so Susanna took her place.

But when Isabella came,
Arm'd with a resistiess flame,

And th' artillery of her eye;
Whilst she proudly march'd about,
Greater conquests to find out,

She beat out Susan by tlie bye.

But in her place I then obey'd
Black-ey'd Bess, her vice-roy maid :

To whom ensued a vacaney:
Thousand worst passions then possest
The interregnum of my breast;

Bless me from such an anarchy!

Gentle Henrietta then,
And a third Mary next began ;

Then Joan, and Jane, and Audria;
And then a pretty Thomasine,
And then another Katharine,

And then a long et cætera.

But should I now to you relate,
The strength and riches of their state;

The powder, patches and the pins;
The ribbons, jewels, and the rings,
The lace, the paint, and warlike things;

That make up all their magazines;

If I should tell the politic arts
To take and keep men's hearts;

The letters, embassies, and spies, The frowns, and smiles, and flatteries, The quarrels, tears, and perjuries,

(Numberless, nameless, mysteries)

And all the little lime-twigs laid,
By Machiaval the waiting maid;

I more voluminous should grow
(Chiefly if I like them should tell
All change of weathers that befell)

Than Holinshed or Stow.

But I will briefer with them be, Since few of them were long with me.

A higher and a nobler strain My present emperess does claim, Helenora, first o'th' name;

Whom God grant long to reign!

THE DESPAIRING LOVER.

Distracted with care
For Phyllis the fair,
Since nothing could move her,
Poor Damon, her lover,
Resolves in despair
No longer to languish,
Nor bear so much anguish;
But, mad with his love,
To a precipice goes,
Where a leap from above
Would soon finish his woes.

When in rage he came there,
Beholding how steep
The sides did appear,
And the bottom how deep ;
His torments projecting,
And sadly reflecting,
That a lover forsaken
A new love may get
But a neck when once broken,
Can never be set;

And that he could die
Whenever he would,
But, that he could live
But as long as he could :
How grievous so ever
The torment might grow,
He scoru'd to endeavour
To finish it so.
But bold, unconcern'd
At the thoughts of the pain,
He calmly return'd
To his cottage again.

REPORT

OF AN ADJUDGED CASE NOT TO BE FOUND IN

ANY OF THE BOOKS.

Between Nose and Eyes, a strange contest

arose, The spectacles set them unhappily wrong; The point in dispute was, as all the world knows, To which the said spectacles ought to belong.