Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

A Song: “In vain, Clemene, you bestow”

By Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset (1638–1706)

(Contributed to Southerne’s Sir Anthony Love, 1691)

IN vain, Clemene, you bestow
The promised empire of your heart:
If you refuse to let me know
The wealthy charms of every part.
My passion with your kindness grew,	5
Tho’ beauty gave the first desire:
But beauty only to pursue
Is following a wand’ring fire.
As hills in perspective suppress
The free enquiry of the sight;	10
Restraint makes every pleasure less
And takes from love the full delight.
Faint kisses may in part supply
Those eager longings of my soul;
But oh! I’m lost if you deny	15
A quick possession of the whole.