T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Upon a Lady’s Being Disappointed by a Young Scotch Lord
By Thomas Brown (1662–1704)(1704) YOUNG Caledon has all the charms | |
| That can engage the fair; | |
| A tongue that every heart disarms, | |
| A soft bewitching air. | |
| But see what fate attends a drone! | 5 |
| He loves what he takes, | |
| And when the fortress is his own, | |
| His victory forsakes. | |
| At her expense this fatal truth | |
| Melissa late did prove, | 10 |
| Neither her beauty nor her youth | |
| Could long secure his love: | |
| The lavish hero fired too fast, | |
| So vain was his ambition, | |
| That when three poor attacks were past, | 15 |
| He wanted ammunition. | |
| Were it inconstancy alone, | |
| Art might the youth reclaim; | |
| But when love’s vital oil is gone, | |
| What can revive the flame? | 20 |
| Ye Gods, by whom my hopes are curst, | |
| Once grant me what I pray, | |
| Give Caledon less heat at first, | |
| Or better Funds to pay. | |