This is a poem by Anne Finch. It is the third in the series of poems under consideration here taken from 1714 Steele's Poetical Miscellanies. It is also in the 14 poems in The Hive, all of which are in a row and all by Anne Finch. For full listing see "Grown old in rhyme . . ."

See Annotated Chronology No. 162 (1709-14). This one belongs to the Cupid and Bacchus narrative song of drinking; she has been affected by her own translations of Anacreon and the new more impersonal tone of the period; her opening line repeats the sympathetic yet mocking phraseology and tone she adopts towards the victims in her fables (particularly in "For the Better," "A Tale of the Miser and the Poet," "The Tradesman and the Scholar"); her characters are those of her "Cupid and Folly" and other Cupid narratives; she is also sharp on sexual antagonism and the variations of sadomachism which men and women exhibit while courting in the manner of her earlier Cavalier songs. Seen in the context of her other poems, this is a lively piece. Reynolds concurs, p. lxxxviii

LOVE'S RELIEF, p 42

A Wretch long tortur'd with Disdain,
That hourly pin'd, but pin'd in vain,
At length the God of Wine addrest,
The Refuge of a wounded breast.

Vouchsafe, oh Pow'r, thy healing Aid,
Teach me to gain the cruel Maid;
Thy Juices take the Lover's Part,
Flush his wan Looks, and chear his Heart.

Thus to the Jolly God he cry'd;
And thus the Jolly God reply'd,
Give shining o'er, be brisk and gay,
And quaff this sneaking Form away.

With dauntless Mein approach the Fair;
The Way to conquer is to Dare
The Swain pursu'd the God's Advice;
The Nymph was now no longer Nice.

She smil'd, and spoke the Sex's Mind;
When You grow Daring, We grow Kind:
Men to themselves are most severe,
And make us Tyrants by their Fear.