And cling, and heave, and moisten every kiss; They often share, and more than share the bliss: From every part, even to their inmost soul,
They feel the trickling joys, and run with vigour to the goal.
Stirr'd with the same impetuous desire, [quire;
Birds, beasts, and herds, and mares, their males re-
Because the throbbing nature in their veins.
Provokes them to assuage their kindly pains:
The lusty leap the expecting female stands,
By mutual heat compell'd to mutual bands.
Thus dogs with lolling tongues by love are tied,
Nor shouting boys nor blows their union can di-
At either end they strive the link to loose, [vide:
In vain, for stronger Venus holds the noose;
Which never would those wretched lovers do, 205
But that the common heats of love they know ;
The pleasure therefore must be shared in common
And when the woman's more prevailing juice
Sucks in the man's, the mixture will produce
The mother's likeness; when the man prevails,
His own resemblance in the seed he seals.
But when we see the new-begotten race
Reflect the features of each parent's face,
Then of the father's and the mother's blood
The justly temper'd seed is understood;
When both conspire, with equal ardour bent,
From every limb the due proportion sent,
When neither party foils, when neither foil'd,
This gives the splendid features of the child.
Sometimes the boy the grandsire's image bears;
Sometimes the more remote progenitor he shares;
Because the genial atoms of the seed
Lie long conceal'd ere they exert the breed;
And, after sundry ages past, produce
The tardy likeness of the latent juice.
Hence, families such different figures take,
And represent their ancestors in face, and hair,
and make;
Because of the same seed, the voice, and hair,
And shape, and face, and other members are,
And the same antique mould the likeness does
prepare.
Thus, oft the father's likeness does prevail
In females, and the mother's in the male;
For, since the seed is of a double kind,
From that, where we the most resemblance find,
We may conclude the strongest tincture sent,
And that was in conception prevalent.
Nor can the vain decrees of powers above
Deny production to the act of love,
Or hinder fathers of that happy name,
Or with a barren womb the matron shame;
As many think, who stain with victims' blood
The mournful altars, and with incense load,
To bless the showery seed with future life,
And to impregnate the well-labour'd wife.
In vain they weary heaven with prayer, or fly
To oracles, or magic numbers try;
For barrenness of sexes will proceed
Either from too condensed, or watery, seed:
The watery juice too soon dissolves away,
And in the parts projected will not stay;
The too condens'd, unsoul'd, unwieldly mass,
Drops short, nor carries to the destin'd place;
Nor pierces to the parts, nor, though injected home,
Will mingle with the kindly moisture of the womb.
For nuptials are unlike in their success;
Some men with fruitful seed some women bless,
And from some men some women fruitful are,
Just as their constitutions join or jar:
And many seeming barren wives have been,
Who after, match'd with more prolific men,
Have fill'd a family with prattling boys;
And many, not supplied at home with joys,
Have found a friend abroad to ease their smart,
And to perform the sapless husband's part.
So much it does import, that seed with seed
Should of the kindly mixture make the breed;
And thick with thin, and thin with thick should
So to produce and propagate the line.
Of such concernment too is drink and food,
To incrassate, or attenuate the blood.
Of like importance is the posture too,
In which the genial feat of love we do:
For, as the females of the four-foot kind
Receive the leapings of their males behind,
So the good wives, with loins uplifted high, [try :
And leaning on their hands, the fruitful stroke may
For in that posture will they best conceive; Not when, supinely laid, they frisk and heave; For active motions only break the blow,
And more of strumpets than the wives they show, When, answering stroke with stroke, the mingled liquors flow.
Endearments eager, and too brisk a bound, Throw off the ploughshare from the furrow'd ground;
But common harlots in conjunction heave,
Because 'tis less their business to conceive,
Than to delight, and to provoke the deed;
A trick which honest wives but little need.
Nor is it from the gods, or Cupid's dart,
That many a homely woman takes the heart,
But wives well-humour'd, dutiful, and chaste,
And clean, will hold their wandering husbands fast;
Such are the links of love, and such a love will last.
For what remains, long habitude, and use,
Will kindness in domestic bands produce;
For custom will a strong impression leave.
Hard bodies, which the lightest stroke receive,
In length of time will moulder and decay,
And stones with drops of rain are wash'd away.
FROM THE TWENTY-SEVENTH IDYLLIUM OF THEOCRITUS.
DAPHNIS. THE shepherd Paris bore the Spartan
By force away, and then by force enjoy'd; [bride
But I by free consent can boast a bliss,
A fairer Helen, and a sweeter kiss.
[o'er. CHLORIS. Kisses are empty joys, and soon are DAP. A kiss betwixt the lips is something more. CHL. I wipe my mouth, and where's your kissing then?
DAP. I swear you wipe it to be kiss'd again. CHL. Go, tend your herd, and kiss your cows at I am a maid, and in my beauty's bloom. [home; DAP. 'Tis well remember'd; do not waste your But wisely use it ere you pass your prime. [time, CHL. Blown roses hold their sweetness to the last, And raisins keep their luscious native taste.
DAP. The sun's too hot; those olive shades are
I fain would whisper something in your ear.
CHL. 'Tis honest talking where we may be seen: God knows what secret mischief you may mean; I doubt you'll play the wag, and kiss again.
DAP. At least beneath yon elm you need not fear; My pipe's in tune, if you're disposed to hear.
CHL. Play by yourself, I dare not venture thither;
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