Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake

William Congreve (1670–1729)

Amoret

FAIR Amoret is gone astray;

Pursue and seek her every lover;

I ’ll tell the signs by which you may

The wandering shepherdess discover.

Coquet and coy at once her air,

Both studied, though both seem neglected;

Careless she is with artful care,

Affecting to seem unaffected.

With skill her eyes dart every glance,

Yet change so soon you ’d ne’er suspect ’em;

For she ’d persuade they wound by chance,

Though certain aim and art direct ’em.

She likes herself, yet others hates

For that which in herself she prizes;

And, while she laughs at them, forgets

She is the thing that she despises.