Part 6

_Oh! how at ease my Heart would live,_ _Could I renounce this Fugitive;_ _This dear, but false, attracting Maid,_ _That has her Vows and Faith betray’d!_ _Reason would have it so, but Love_ _Dares not the dang’rous Tryal prove._

Do not be angry then, for this afflicting Hour is drawing to an end, and you ought not to despair of coming into my absolute Favour again,

_Then do not let your murm’ring Heart,_ _Against my Int’rest, take your part._ _The Feud was rais’d by Dreams, all false and vain,_ _And the next Sleep shall reconcile again._

SIX o’.LOCK.

_Accommodation in Dreams._

Tho’ the angry Lovers force themselves, all they can, to chase away the troublesom Tenderness of the Heart, in the height of their Quarrels, Love sees all their Sufferings, pities and redresses ‘em: And when we begin to cool, and a soft Repentance follows the Chagrin of the Love-Quarrel, ‘tis then that Love takes the advantage of both Hearts, and renews the charming Friendship more forcibly than ever, puts a stop to all our Feuds, and renders the peace-making Minutes the most dear and tender part of our Life. How pleasing ‘tis to see your Rage dissolve! How sweet, how soft is every Word that pleads for pardon at my Feet! ‘Tis there that you tell me, your very Sufferings are over paid, when I but assure you from my Eyes, that I will forget your Crime: And your Imagination shall here present me the most sensible of your past Pain, that you can wish; and that all my Anger being vanisht, I give you a thousand Marks of my Faith and Gratitude; and lastly, to crown all, that we again make new Vows to one another of inviolable Peace:

_After these Debates of Love,_ _Lovers thousand Pleasures prove,_ _Which they ever think to taste,_ _Tho’ oftentimes they do not last._

Enjoy then all the Pleasures that a Heart that is very amorous, and very tender, can enjoy. Think no more on those Inquietudes that you have suffer’d; bless _Love_ for his Favours, and thank me for my Graces: and resolve to endure any thing, rather than enter upon any new Quarrels. And however dear the reconciling Moments are, there proceeds a great deal of Evil from these little frequent Quarrels; and I think the best Counsel we can follow, is to avoid ‘em as near as we can: And if we cannot, but that, in spite of Love and good Understanding, they should break out, we ought to make as speedy a Peace as possible; for ‘tis not good to grate the Heart too long, lest it grow harden’d insensibly, and lose its native Temper. A few Quarrels there must be in Love: Love cannot support it self without ‘em: and, besides the Joy of an Accommodation, Love becomes by it more strongly united, and more charming. Therefore let the Lover receive this as a certain Receipt against declining Love:

Love reconcil’d.

_He that would have the Passion be_ _Entire between the am’rous Pair,_ _Let not the little Feuds of Jealousy_ _Be carry’d on to a Despair:_ _That palls the Pleasure he would raise;_ _The Fire that he would blow, allays._

_When Understandings false arise,_ _When misinterpreted your Thought,_ _If false Conjectures of your Smiles and Eyes_ _Be up to baneful Quarrels wrought;_ _Let Love the kind Occasion take,_ _And straight Accommodations make._

_The sullen Lover, long unkind,_ _Ill-natur’d, hard to reconcile,_ _Loses the Heart he had inclin’d;_ _Love cannot undergo long Toil;_ _He’s soft and sweet, not born to bear_ _The rough Fatigues of painful War._

SEVEN o’.LOCK.

_Divers Dreams._

Behold, _Damon_, the last Hour of your Sleep, and of my _Watch_. She leaves you at Liberty now, and you may chuse your Dreams: Trust ‘em to your Imaginations, give a Loose to Fancy, and let it rove at will, provided, _Damon_, it be always guided by a respectful _Love_. For thus far I pretend to give bounds to your Imagination, and will not have it pass beyond ‘em: Take heed, in sleeping, you give no ear to a flatt’ring _Cupid_, that will favour your slumb’ring Minutes with Lyes too pleasing and vain: You are discreet enough when you are awake; will you not be so in Dreams?

_Damon_, awake; my _Watch’s_ Course is done: after this, you cannot be ignorant of what you ought to do during my Absence. I did not believe it necessary to caution you about Balls and Comedies; you know, a Lover depriv’d of his Mistress, goes seldom there. But if you cannot handsomely avoid these Diversions, I am not so unjust a Mistress, to be angry with you for it; go, if Civility, or other Duties oblige you: I will only forbid you, in consideration of me, not to be too much satisfy’d with those Pleasures; but see ‘em so, as the World may have reason to say, you do not seek them, you do not make a Business or Pleasure of them; and that ‘tis Complaisance, and not Inclination, that carries you thither. Seem rather negligent than concern’d at any thing there; and let every part of you say, Iris _is not here_--

I say nothing to you neither of your Duty elsewhere; I am satisfy’d you know it too well; and have too great a Veneration for your glorious Master, to neglect any part of that for even Love it self. And I very well know how much you love to be eternally near his illustrious Person; and that you scarce prefer your Mistress before him, in point of Love: In all things else, I give him leave to take place of _Iris_ in the noble Heart of _Damon_.

I am satisfy’d you pass your time well now at _Windsor_, for you adore that Place; and ‘tis not, indeed, without great reason: for ‘tis most certainly now render’d the most glorious Palace in the Christian World. And had our late Gracious Sovereign, of blessed Memory, had no other Miracles and Wonders of his Life and Reign to have immortaliz’d his Fame (of which there shall remain a thousand to Posterity) this noble Structure alone, this Building (almost Divine) would have eterniz’d the great Name of Glorious _Charles_ II. till the World moulder again to its old Confusion, its first _Chaos_. And the Paintings of the famous _Varrio_, and noble Carvings of the unimitable _Gibbon_, shall never die, but remain to tell succeeding Ages, that all Arts and Learning were not confin’d to antient _Rome_ and _Greece_, but that _England_ too could boast its mightiest Share. Nor is the Inside of this magnificent Structure, immortaliz’d with so many eternal Images of the illustrious _Charles_ and _Katharine_, more to be admired than the wondrous Prospects without. The stupendous Heighth, on which the famous Pile is built, renders the Fields, and flowery Meads below, the Woods, the Thickets, and the winding Streams, the most delightful Object that ever Nature produc’d. Beyond all these, and far below, in an inviting Vale, the venerable College, an old, but noble Building, raises it self, in the midst of all the Beauties of Nature, high-grown Trees, fruitful Plains, purling Rivulets, and spacious Gardens, adorn’d with all Variety of Sweets that can delight the Senses.

At farther distance yet, on an Ascent almost as high as that to the Royal Structure, you may behold the famous and noble _Clifdon_ rise, a Palace erected by the illustrious Duke of _Buckingham_, who will leave this wondrous Piece of Architecture, to inform the future World of the Greatness and Delicacy of his Mind; it being for its Situation, its Prospects, and its marvellous Contrivances, one of the finest _Villa’s_ of the World; at least, were it finish’d as begun; and would sufficiently declare the magnifick Soul of the Hero that caus’d it to be built, and contriv’d all its Fineness. And this makes up not the least part of the beautiful Prospect from the Palace Royal, while on the other side lies spread a fruitful and delightful Park and Forest well stor’d with Deer, and all that makes the Prospect charming; fine Walks, Groves, distant Valleys, Downs and Hills, and all that Nature could invent, to furnish out a quiet soft Retreat for the most fair and most charming of Queens, and the most Heroick, Good, and Just of Kings: And these Groves alone are fit and worthy to divert such earthly Gods.

Nor can Heaven, Nature, or human Art contrive an Addition to this earthly Paradise, unless those great Inventors of the Age, Sir _Samuel Morland_, or Sir _Robert Gorden_, cou’d by the power of Engines, convey the Water so into the Park and Castle, as to furnish it with delightful Fountains, both useful and beautiful. These are only wanting, to render the Place all Perfection, and without Exception.

This, _Damon_, is a long Digression from the Business of my Heart; but, you know I am so in love with that charming Court, that when you gave me an occasion, by your being there now, but to name the Place, I could not forbear transgressing a little, in favour of its wondrous Beauty; and the rather, because I would, in recounting it, give you to understand how many fine Objects there are, besides the Ladies that adorn it, to employ your vacant Moments in; and I hope you will, without my Instructions, pass a great part of your idle time in surveying these Prospects, and give that Admiration you should pay to living Beauty, to those more venerable Monuments of everlasting Fame.

Neither need I, _Damon_, assign you your waiting Times: your Honour, Duty, Love, and Obedience, will instruct you when to be near the Person of the King; and, I believe, you will omit no part of that Devoir. You ought to establish your Fortune and your Glory: for I am not of the mind of those critical Lovers, who believe it a very hard matter to reconcile Love and Interest, to adore a Mistress, and serve a Master at the same Time. And I have heard those, who on this Subject, say, _Let a Man be never so careful in these double Duties, ‘tis ten to one but he loses his Fortune or his Mistress_. These are Errors that I condemn: And I know that Love and Ambition are not incompatible, but that a brave Man may preserve all his Duties to his Sovereign, and his Passion and his Respect for his Mistress. And this is my Notion of it.

Love and Ambition.

_The nobler Lover, who would prove_ _Uncommon in Address,_ _Let him Ambition join with Love;_ _With Glory, Tenderness:_ _But let the Virtues so be mixt,_ _That when to Love he goes,_ _Ambition may not come betwixt,_ _Nor Love his Power oppose._

_The vacant Hours from softer Sport,_ _Let him give up to Int’rest and the Court._

_’.is Honour shall his Bus’ness be,_ _And Love his noblest Play:_ _Those two should never disagree,_ _For both make either gay._ _Love without Honour were too mean_ _For any gallant Heart;_ _And Honour singly, but a Dream,_ _Where Love must have no Part._ _A Flame like this you cannot fear,_ _Where Glory claims an equal Share._

Such a Passion, _Damon_, can never make you quit any Part of your Duty to your Prince. And the Monarch you serve is so gallant a Master, that the Inclination you have to his Person obliges you to serve him, as much as your Duty; for _Damon’s_ loyal Soul loves the Man, and adores the Monarch: for he is certainly all that compels both, by a charming Force and Goodness, from all Mankind.

The KING.

_Darling of_ Mars! Bellona’s _Care!_ _The second Deity of War!_ _Delight of Heaven, and Joy of Earth!_ _Born for great and wondrous things,_ _Destin’d at his auspicious Birth_ _T’ out-do the num’rous Race of long-past Kings._ _Best Representative of Heaven,_ _To whom its chiefest Attributes are given!_ _Great, Pious, Stedfast, Just, and Brave!_ _To Vengeance slow, but swift to save!_ _Dispensing Mercy all abroad!_ _Soft and forgiving as a God!_

_Thou saving Angel who preserv’st the Land_ _From the just Rage of the avenging Hand;_ _Stopt the dire Plague, that o’er the Earth was hurl’d,_ _And sheathing thy Almighty Sword,_ _Calm’d the wild Fears of a distracted World,_ _(As Heaven first made it) with a sacred Word!_

But I will stop the low Flight of my humble Muse, who when she is upon the wing, on this glorious Subject, knows no Bounds. And all the World has agreed to say so much of the Virtues and Wonders of this great Monarch, that they have left me nothing new to say; tho’ indeed he every Day gives us new Themes of his growing Greatness, and we see nothing that equals him in our Age. Oh! how happy are we to obey his Laws; for he is the greatest of Kings, and the best of Men!

You will be very unjust, _Damon_, if you do not confess I have acquitted my self like a Maid of Honour, of all the Obligations I owe you, upon the account of the _Discretion_ I lost to you. If it be not valuable enough, I am generous enough to make it good: And since I am so willing to be just, you ought to esteem me, and to make it your chiefest Care to preserve me yours; for I believe I shall deserve it, and wish you should believe so too. Remember me, write to me, and observe punctually all the Motions of my _Watch_: The more you regard it, the better you will like it; and whatever you think of it at first sight, ‘tis no ill Present. The Invention is soft and gallant; and _Germany_, so celebrated for rare _Watches_, can produce nothing to equal this.

Damon, _my_ Watch _is just and new;_ } _And all a Lover ought to do,_ } _My_ Cupid _faithfully will shew._ } _And ev’ry Hour he renders there,_ _Except_ l’heure du Bergere.

The CASE for the WATCH.

DAMON _to_ IRIS.

Expect not, Oh charming _Iris_! that I should chuse Words to thank you in; (Words, that least Part of Love, and least the Business of the Lover) but will say all, and every thing that a tender Heart can dictate, to make an Acknowledgment for so dear and precious a Present as this of your charming _Watch_: while all I can say will but too dully express my Sense of Gratitude, my Joy, and the Pleasure I receive in the mighty Favour. I confess the Present too rich, too gay, and too magnificent for my Expectation: and tho’ my Love and Faith deserve it, yet my humbler Hope never durst carry me to a Wish of so great a Bliss, so great an Acknowledgment from the Maid I adore. The Materials are glorious, the Work delicate, and the Movement just, and even gives Rules to my Heart, who shall observe very exactly all that the _Cupid_ remarks to me; even to the Minutes, which I will point with Sighs, tho’ I am obliged to ‘em there but every half Hour.

You tell me, fair _Iris_, that I ought to preserve it tenderly, and yet you have sent it me without a Case. But that I may obey you justly, and keep it dear to me, as long as I live, I will give it a Case of my Fashion: It shall be delicate, and suitable to the fine Present; of such Materials too. But because I would have it perfect, I will consult your admirable Wit and Invention in an Affair of so curious a Consequence.

_The_ FIGURE _of the_ CASE.

I design to give it the Figure of the Heart. Does not your _Watch_, _Iris_, rule the Heart? It was your Heart that contrived it, and ‘twas your Heart you consulted in all the Management of it; and ‘twas your Heart that brought it to so fine a Conclusion. The Heart never acts without Reason, and all the Heart projects, it performs with Pleasure.

Your _Watch_, my lovely Maid, has explain’d to me a World of rich Secrets of Love: And where should Thoughts so sacred be stored, but in the Heart, where all the Secrets of the Soul are treasur’d up, and of which only _Love_ alone can take a view? ‘Tis thence he takes his Sighs and Tears, and all his little Flatteries and Arts to please; all his fine Thoughts, and all his mighty Raptures; nothing is so proper as the Heart to preserve it, nothing so worthy as the Heart to contain it: and it concerns my Interest too much, not to be infinitely careful of so dear a Treasure: And believe me, charming _Iris_, I will never part with it.

The Votary.

_Fair Goddess of my just Desire,_ _Inspirer of my softest Fire!_ _Since you, from out the num’rous Throng_ _That to your Altars do belong,_ _To me the Sacred Myst’ry have reveal’d,_ _From all my Rival-Worshippers conceal’d;_ _And toucht my Soul with heav’nly Fire,_ _Refin’d it from its grosser Sense,_ _And wrought it to a higher Excellence;_ _It can no more return to Earth,_ _Like things that thence receive their Birth;_ _But still aspiring, upward move,_ _And teach the World new Flights of Love;_ _New Arts of Secrecy shall learn,_ _And render Youth discreet in Love’s Concern._

_In his soft Heart, to hide the charming things_ _A Mistress whispers to his Ear;_ _And e’ery tender Sigh she brings,_ _Mix with his Soul, and hide it there._ _To bear himself so well in Company,_ _That if his Mistress present be,_ _It may be thought by all the Fair,_ _Each in his Heart does claim a Share,_ _And all are more belov’d than she._ _But when with the dear Maid apart,_ _Then at her Feet the Lover lies;_ _Opens his Soul, shews all his Heart,_ _While Joy is dancing in his Eyes._ _Then all that Honour may, or take, or give,_ _They both distribute, both receive._ _A Looker-on wou’d spoil a Lover’s Joy;_ _For Love’s a Game where only two can play._ _And ‘tis the hardest of Love’s Mysteries,_ _To feign Love where it is not, hide it where it is._

After having told you, my lovely _Iris_, that I design to put your _Watch_ into a Heart, I ought to shew you the Ornaments of the Case. I do intend to have ‘em crown’d Cyphers: I do not mean those Crowns of Vanity, which are put indifferently on all sorts of Cyphers; no, I must have such as may distinguish mine from the rest, and may be true Emblems of what I would represent. My four Cyphers therefore shall be crown’d with these four Wreaths, of Olive, Laurel, Myrtle, and Roses: and the Letters that begin the Names of _Iris_ and _Damon_ shall compose the Cyphers; tho’ I must intermix some other Letters that bear another Sense, and have another Signification.

_The First_ CYPHER.

The first Cypher is compos’d of an _I_ and a _D_, which are join’d by an _L_ and an _E_; which signifies _Love Extreme_. And ‘tis but just, Oh adorable _Iris_! that Love should be mixt with our Cyphers, and that Love alone should be the Union of ‘em.

_Love ought alone the Mystick Knot to tie;_ _Love, that great Master of all Arts:_ _And this dear_ Cypher _is to let you see,_ _Love unites Names as well as Hearts._

Without this charming Union, our Souls could not communicate those invisible Sweetnesses, which compleat the Felicity of Lovers, and which the most tender and passionate Expressions are too feeble to make us comprehend. But, my adorable _Iris_, I am contented with the vast Pleasure I feel in loving well, without the care of expressing it well; if you will imagine my Pleasure, without expressing it: For I confess, ‘twould be no Joy to me to adore you, if you did not perfectly believe I did adore you. Nay, tho’ you lov’d me, if you had no Faith in me, I should languish, and love in as much Pain, as if you scorn’d; and at the same time believ’d I dy’d for you: For surely, _Iris_, ‘tis a greater Pleasure to please than to be pleas’d; and the glorious Power of Giving is infinitely a greater Satisfaction, than that of Receiving: there is so Great and God-like a Quality in it. I would have your Belief therefore equal to my Passion, extreme; as indeed all Love should be, or it cannot bear that Divine Name: it can pass but for an indifferent Affection. And these Cyphers ought to make the World find all the noble Force of delicate Passion: for, Oh my _Iris_! what would Love signify, if we did not love fervently? Sisters and Brothers love; Friends and Relations have Affections: but where the Souls are join’d, which are fill’d with eternal soft Wishes, Oh! there is some Excess of Pleasure, which cannot be express’d!

Your Looks, your dear obliging Words, and your charming Letters, have sufficiently persuaded me of your Tenderness; and you might surely see the Excess of my Passion by my Cares, my Sighs, and entire Resignation to your Will. I never think of _Iris_, but my Heart feels double Flames, and pants and heaves with double Sighs; and whose Force makes its Ardours known, by a thousand Transports: And they are very much to blame, to give the Name of Love to feeble easy Passions. Such transitory tranquil Inclinations are at best but Well-wishers to Love; and a Heart that has such Heats as those, ought not to put it self into the Rank of those nobler Victims that are offer’d at the Shrine of Love. But our Souls, _Iris_, burn with a more glorious Flame, that lights and conducts us beyond a Possibility of losing one another. ’.is this that flatters all my Hopes; ‘tis this alone makes me believe my self worthy of _Iris_: And let her judge of its Violence, by the Greatness of its Splendour.

Does not a Passion of this nature, so true, so ardent, deserve to be crown’d? And will you wonder to see, over this Cypher, a Wreath of Myrtles, those Boughs so sacred to the Queen of Love, and so worshipp’d by Lovers? ‘Tis with these soft Wreaths, that those are crown’d, who understand how to love well and faithfully.

_The Smiles, the Graces, and the Sports,_ _That in the Secret Groves maintain their Courts,_ _Are with these Myrtles crown’d:_ _Thither the Nymphs their Garlands bring;_ _Their Beauties and their Praises sing,_ _While Echoes do the Songs resound._

Love, _tho’ a God, with Myrtle Wreaths_ _Does his soft Temples bind;_ _More valu’d are those consecrated Leaves,_ _Than the bright Wealth in Eastern Rocks confin’d:_ _And Crowns of Glory less Ambition move,_ _Than those more sacred Diadems of Love._

_The Second_ CYPHER,

Is crown’d with Olives; and I add to the two Letters of our Names an _R_ and an _L_, for _Reciprocal Love_. Every time that I have given you, O lovely _Iris_, Testimonies of my Passion, I have been so blest, as to receive some from your Bounty; and you have been pleased to flatter me with a Belief, that I was not indifferent to you. I dare therefore say, that being honour’d with the Glory of your Tenderness and Care, I ought, as a Trophy of my illustrious Conquest, to adorn the _Watch_ with a Cypher that is so advantageous to me. Ought I not to esteem my self the most fortunate and happy of Mankind, to have exchanged my Heart with so charming and admirable a Person as _Iris_? Ah! how sweet, how precious is the Change; and how vast a Glory arrives to me from it! Oh! you must not wonder if my Soul abandon it self to a thousand Extasies! In the Merchandize of Hearts, Oh, how dear it is to receive as much as one gives; and barter Heart for Heart! Oh! I would not receive mine again, for all the Crowns the Universe contains! Nor ought you, my Adorable, make any Vows or Wishes, ever to retrieve yours; or shew the least Repentance for the Blessing you have given me. The Exchange we made, was confirm’d by a noble Faith; and you ought to believe, you have bestow’d it well, since you are paid for it a Heart that is so conformable to yours, so true, so just, and so full of Adoration: And nothing can be the just Recompence of Love, but Love: and to enjoy the true Felicity of it, our Hearts ought to keep an equal Motion; and, like the Scales of Justice, always hang even.

’.is the Property of Reciprocal Love, to make the Heart feel the Delicacy of Love, and to give the Lover all the Ease and Softness he can reasonably hope. Such a Love renders all things advantageous and prosperous: Such a Love triumphs over all other Pleasures. And I put a Crown of Olives over the Cypher of _Reciprocal Love_, to make known, that two Hearts, where Love is justly equal, enjoy a Peace that nothing can disturb.