LADY'S
Reading edition
PRESENTING A SPRIG OF MYRTLE
TO A
GENTLEMAN.
BY MR. HAMMOND.
What fears, what terrors does thy gift create! Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate! The myrtle, ensign of supreme command, (Consign'd by venus to melissa's hand) Not less capricious than a reigning fair, Oft favours, oft rejects the lover's care. In myrtle groves oft sings the happy swain, In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain; The myrtle crowns the happy lovers heads, Th' unhappy lovers graves the myrtle spreads; Oh! then the meaning of thy gift impart, And cure the throbbings of an anxious heart; Soon must this bough, as you shall fix his doom, Adorn philander's head, or grace his tomb.
TO