Α Ν

I MI Τ Α Τ Ι Ο Ν

OF A FRENCH AUTHOR.

CAN you count the filver lights

That deck the skies, and cheer the nights ; Or the leaves that strow the vales, When groves are stript by winter-gales ; Or the drops that in the morn Hang with transparent pearl the thorn; Or bridegroom's joys, or miser's cares, Or gamester's oaths, or hermit's prayers; Or envy's pangs, or love's alarms, Or Marlborough's acts, or --n's charms ?

TO MR. GAY,

ON HIS POEMS.

WHE
THEN Fame did o'er the spacious plain

The lays she once had learn’d repeat ;
All listen’d to the tuneful strains,

And wonder'd who could fing so sweet. "T'was thus. The Graces held the lyre,

Th' harmonious frame the Muses strung, The Loves and Smiles compos’d the choir,

And Gay tranfcrib'd what Phæbus sung.

TO

UNWIELDY pedant, let thy aukward Muse

With censures praise, with flatteries abuse.
To lafh, and not be felt, in thee 's an art;
Thou ne'er mad'st any, but ihy school-boys, smart.
Then be advis’d, and scribble not again;
Thou 'rt fashion'd for a fail, and not a pen.
If B-l's immortal wit thou would'st desery,
Pretend 'tis he that writ thy poetry.
Thy feeble satire ne’er can do him wrong;
Thy poems and thy patients live not long.

a

THE EARL OF GODOLPHIN TO DR. GARTH,

UPON THE LOSS OF MISS DINGLE: In return to the Doctor's Consolatory Verses to

bim, upon the loss of his Rop*, THOU, who the pangs of my emlitter'd rage

Could'st, with thy never-dying verse, assuage;
Immortal verse, secure to live as long
As that curs’d prose that did condemn thy song:
Thou, happy bard, whose double-gifted pen,
Alike can cure an aking corn, or spleen;
* See above, p. 109.

Whe

Whose lucky hand administers repose
As well to breaking heart, as broken nose;
Accept this tribute : think it all I had,
In recompence of thine, when I was fad.

What though it comes from an unpractis’d Muse,
Bad at the best, grown worse by long disuse;
In filence lost, since once I did complain
Of Wiv-l's cold neglect in humble strain ;
When, check'd by slavish conscience, she deny'd
To throw aside the niece, and act the bride :
Yet sure I may be thought among the throng
If not to sing, to whistle out a song :
Then take the kind remembrance of my versc,
While Dingle's loss with forrow I rehearse.

Dingle is lost, the hollow caves resound
Dingle is loft, and multiply the sound;
Till Echo, chaunting it by just degree,
Shortens to Ding, then softens it to D.

Dingle is lost; where 's now the parent's care,
The boasted force of piety and prayer
No more shall the within thy spacious hall
Lead up the dance, and animate the ball;
Deserted thus, no more shalt thou engage
Under the roof to Whartonize the age.

Train’d by thy care, by thy example led,
Early she learnt to scorn the nuptial bed ;
In vain by thy advice enlarg’d her mind,
And vow'd, like thee, to multiply her kind :
For Dingle thou didst bless the nether skies;
In hopes a mingled race might once arise,
To footh thy hoary age, and close thy dying eyes.

Learn,

?

:

Learn, ye indulging parents, learn from hence :
Think not compliance e'er will influence.
The fifth command alone you did enjoin,
And frankly gave

her
up

the other nine :
Yet the, though that, and that alone, was press’d,
Regardless of your will, the fifth transgress’d.

But oh! my friend, consider, though the 's gone, She left no coffers empty but her own ; Her mind, that did direct the great machine, Mov’d, like the universe, by springs unseen; And, though from thy instructions she retreats, Her globe of light grows larger as she sets : For nought could brighter make her lustre shine, Than to withdraw, and single it from thine. Then think of this; and pardon, when you

fee, Those virtues you so late admir'd in me.

CON

C ο Ν Τ Ε Ν Τ 8

0

1

G ART H'S

P O E M S.

63

THE DISPENSARY.
Canto 'J.

Page 19
II.

28
III.

37
IV.

49
V.
VI.

77
Claremont. Addressed to the Right Hon. the Earl
of Clare, afterwards Duke of Newcastle.

91 To the Lady Louisa Lenos, with Ovid's Epistles. 104 To Richard Earl of Burlington, with Ovid's Art of Love.

105 To the Dutchess of Bolton, on her staying all the winter in the country.

107 To the Duke of Marlborough, on his voluntary banishment.

108 To the Earl of Godolphin.

109
Ön her Majesty's Statue in St. Paul's Church-yard. 110
On the New Conspiracy. 1716.
On the King of Spain.

Verses

II1

112