Song III.

SONG III.

SYLVIA.

LEAVE me, simple shepherd, leave me; Drag no more a hopeless chain: I cannot like, nor would deceive thee; Love the maid that loves again.

CORIN.

Tho' more gentle nymphs surround me, Kindly pitying what I feel, Only you have power to wound me; SYLVIA, only you can heal.

SYLVIA.

CORIN, cease this idle teazing; Love that's forc'd is harsh and sour: If the lover be displeasing, To persist disgusts the more.

CORIN.

'Tis in vain, in vain to fly me, SYLVIA, I will still pursue; Twenty thousand times deny me, I will kneel and weep anew.

SYLVIA.

CUPID ne'er shall make me languish, I was born averse to love; Lovers' sighs, and tears, and anguish, Mirth and pastime to me prove.

CORIN.

Still I vow with patient duty Thus to meet your proudest scorn; You for unrelenting beauty, I for constant love was born.

But the fates had not consented, Since they both did fickle prove; Of her scorn the maid repented, And the shepherd of his love.