| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | Song: ‘Perhaps it is not love, said I’ | | By William Shenstone (1714–1763) |
| | | PERHAPS it is not love, said I, | |
| That melts my soul when Flavia’s nigh: | |
| Where wit and sense like hers agree, | |
| One may be pleased, and yet be free. | |
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| The beauties of her polish’d mind | 5 |
| It needs no lover’s eye to find; | |
| The hermit freezing in his cell | |
| Might wish the gentle Flavia well. | |
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| It is not love—averse to bear | |
| The servile chain that lovers wear; | 10 |
| Let, let me all my fears remove, | |
| My doubts dispel—it is not love— | |
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| O! when did wit so brightly shine | |
| In any form less fair than thine? | |
| It is—it is love’s subtile fire, | 15 |
| And under friendship lurks desire. | | | | |
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