SUPPLICATION FOR MISS CARTERET
OWER o'er every power fupreme,
Thou the poet's hallow'd theme,
From thy mercy-feat on high,
Hear my numbers, hear my cry.
Breather of all vital breath,
Arbiter of life and death,
Oh, preferve this innocence,
Yet unconscious of offence,
Yet in life and virtue growing,
Yet no debt to Nature owing.
Thou, who giv'st angelic grace
To the blooming virgin face,
Let the fell disease not blight
What thou mad'st for man's delight:
O'er her features let it pass
Like the breeze o'er fpringing grass,
Gentle as refreshing showers
Sprinkled over opening flowers.
O, let years alonę diminish
Beauties thou waft pleas'd to finish.
To the pious parents give
That the darling fair may live:
Turn to bleffings all their care,
Save their fondness from despair.
Mitigate the lurking pains
Lodg'd within her tender veins;
Soften every throb of anguish,
Suffer not her strength to languifh;
Take her to thy careful keeping,
And prevent the mother's weeping.
TO MISS GEORGIANA,
YOUNGEST DAUGHTER TO
AUGUST 10, 1725.
LITTLE charm of placid mien,
Miniature of beauty's queen,
Numbering years, a scanty Nine,
Stealing hearts without defign,
Young inveigler, fond in wiles,
Prone to mirth, profufe in fmiles,
Yet a novice in difdain,
Pleafure giving without pain,
Still careffing, ftill carefs'd,
Thou, and all thy lovers blefs'd,
Never teiz'd, and never teizing,
O, før ever pleas'd and pleasing!
Hither, British Mufe of mine,
Hither all the Grecian Nine,
With the lovely Graces three,
And your promis'd nurfeling fee:
Figure on her waxen mind
Images of life refin'd;
Make it, as a garden gay,
Every bud of thought display,
Till, improving year by year,
The whole culture shall appear,
Voice, and fpeech, and action, rifing,
All to human fenfe furprizing.
Is the filken web fo thin
As the texture of her skin?
. Can the lily and the rofe
Such unfully'd hue difclofe?
Are the violets fo blue
As her veins expos'd to view?
Do the stars, in wintery fky,
Twinkle brighter than her eye?
Has the morning lark a throat
Sounding fweeter than her note?
Who e'er knew the like before thee?
They who knew the Nymph that bere thee.
From thy pastime and thy toys,
From thy harmless cares and joys,
. Give me now a moment's time: When thou shalt attain thy prime,
And thy bofom feel defire,
Love the likeness of thy fire,
› One ordain'd, through life, to prove Still thy glory, still thy love.
Like thy Sifter, and like thee,
Let thy nurtur'd daughters be:
Semblance of the fair who bore thee,
Trace the pattern fet before thee.
Where the Liffy meets the main,
Has thy Sifter hear'd my ftrain:
From the Liffy to the Thames,
Minstrel echoes fing their names,
Wafting to the willing ear
Many a cadence fweet to hear,
Smooth as gently breathing gales
O'er the ocean and the vales,
While the veffel calmly glides
O'er the level glaffy tides,
While the fummer flowers are fpringing,
And the new-fledg'd birds are finging.
ON A COMPANY OF BAD DANCERS TO GOOD MUSIC.
OW ill the motion with the mufic fuits!
So Orpheus fiddled, and fo danc'd the brutes.
E P I G R A M.
EORGE came to the crown without striking a blow:
Ah, quoth the Pretender, would I could do fo!
In ANSWER to the QUESTION, What is THOUGHT?
HE hermit's folace in his cell,
The fire that warms the poet's brain,
The lover's heaven, or his hell,
The madman's fport, the wife man's pain,
THE mind to virtue is by verfe fubdu'd,
And the true poet is a public good:
This Britain feels, while, by your lines inspir'd,
Her free-born fons to glorious thoughts are fir'd.
In Rome had you efpous'd the vanquish'd cause,
Inflam'd her fenate and upheld her laws,
Your manly scenes had liberty restor'd,
And given the juft fuccefs to Cato's sword,
O'er Cæfar's arms your genius had prevail'd,
And the Mufe triumph'd where the patriot fail'd.
N fearch of wisdom far from wit I fly :
Wit is a harlot beauteous to the eye,
In whose bewitching arms our early tinie
We wafte, and vigour of our youthful prime :
But when reflection comes with riper years,
And manhood with a thoughtful brow appears,
We caft the mistress off to take a wife,
And, wed to wisdom, lead a happy life.
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