Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Dryden (1631–1700). The Poems of John Dryden. 1913.

Songs, Odes, and Lyrical Pieces

The Fair Stranger

HAPPY and free, securely blest,

No Beauty could disturb my Rest;

My am’rous Heart was in Despair,

To find a new victorious Fair:

Till you, descending on our Plains,

With foreign Force renew my Chains;

Where now you rule without Controul,

The mighty Sov’reign of my Soul.

Your Smiles have more of conqu’ring Charm

Than all your Native Country’s Arms:

Their Troops we can expel with Ease,

Who vanquish only when we please.

But in your Eyes, oh, there’s the Spell!

Who can see them, and not rebel?

You make us Captives by your Stay,

Yet kill us if you go away.