The Annual miscellany, for the year 1694 being the fourth part of Miscellany poems : containing great variety of new translations and original copies / by the most eminent hands.

The DUEL.

By Henry Savil, Esquire. Written soon after the Duel of the Staggs.

IN Milford-Lane, near to St. Clement's Steeple, There liv'd a Nymph, kind to all Christian People. A Nymph she was, whose comely Mean and Feature Did Wound the Heart of every Man-like Crea∣ture. Under her Beauteous Bosom there did lye A Belly smooth as any Ivory. Yet Nature, to declare her various Art, Had plac'd a Tuft in one convenient part.

No Park, with smoothest Lawn, and highest Wood, Could e're compare with this admir'd aboad; Here all the Youth of England did repair, To take their Pleasure, and to ease their Care. Here the Distressed Lover, that had born His haughty Mistress Anger, or her Scorn, Came for Relief, and, on this pleasant Shade, Forgot the former, and this Lass obey'd. But yet what corner of the World is found, Where Pain our Pleasure doth not still surround? One would have thought that in this shady Grove, Nought could have dwelt but quiet Peace, and Love; But Heaven directed otherwise, for here In mid'st of plenty Bloody Wars appear. The Gods will frown where-ever they do smile; The Crocodile infests the fertile Nile:

Lyons, and Tygers, in the Lesbian Plains, Forbid all Pleasures to the fearful Swains. Wild Beasts in Forests do the Hunters fright, They fear their ruin, mid'st of their delight. Thus, in the Shade of this dark silent Bower, Strength strives with Strength, and Pow'r does vie with Power. Two mighty Monsters did the Wood infest, And struck such awe and terrour in the rest; That no Sicilian Tyrant e're could boast He e're with greater vigour rul'd the roast. Each had his Empire which he kept in awe, Was by his Will obey'd; allow'd no Law. Nature so well divided had their States, Nought but Ambition could have claim'd their Seats. For 'twixt their Empires stood a Briny Lake, Deep as the Poet's do the Center make.

But here Ambition will admit no Bounds, There are no Limits to aspiring Crowns. The Spanyard, by his Europe Conquests bold, Sails o're the Ocean for the Indian Gold. The Carthaginian Hero did not stay Because he met vast Mountains in his way. He past the Alps, like Mole-Hills, such a mind As thinks on Conquests will be unconfin'd. Both with these haughty Thoughts one course do bend, To try if this vast Lake had any end; Where finding Countreys yet without a Name, They might by Conquest get eternal Fame: After long Marches, both their Armies tir'd, At length they find the place so much admir'd. When, in a little time, each doth descry The glimps of an approaching Enemy:

Each at the sight with equal Pleasure move, As we should do in well rewarded Love. Blood-thirsty Souls, whose only perfect joy Consists in what their Fury can destroy. And now both Armies do prepare to fight, And each the other unto War incite. In vain, alas! for all their force and strength Was now consumed by their Marches length; But the great Chiefs, impatient of delay, Resolve by single fight to try the Day.