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The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith

Part 2 — ON SEEING A LADY PERFORM A CERTAIN CHARACTER.

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For you, bright fair, the Nine address their lays, And tune my feeble voice to sing thy praise; The heartfelt power of every charm divine, Who can withstand their all-commanding shine? See how she moves along with every grace, While soul-brought tears steal down each shining face. She speaks! ’tis rapture all, and nameless bliss; Ye gods! what transport e’er compar’d to this? As when, in Paphian groves, the Queen of Love With fond complaint address’d the listening Jove— ’Twas joy and endless blisses all around, And rocks forgot their hardness at the sound. Then first, at last, even Jove was taken in, And felt her charms, without disguise, within.

Illustration from The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith
Illustration from The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith
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