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(339).

ON

Receiving from the Right Hon. the Lady

FRANCES SHIRLEY

A STANDISH and Two PENS.

Y

ES, I beheld th'Athenian Queen

Defcend in all her fober charms ; "And take (she said, and fmil'd ferene) "Take at this hand celeftial arms:

"Secure the radiant weapons wield;
"This golden lance shall guard Desert,

"And if a Vice dares keep the field,

"This fteel fhall stab it to the heart."

Aw'd, on my bended knees I fell,
Receiv'd the weapons of the sky;

And dipt them in the fable Well,
The fount of Fame or Infamy.

The Lady Frances Shirley] A Lady whose great Merit Mr. Pope took a real pleasure in celebrating.

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"What Well? what Weapon? (Flavia cries) "A ftandish, steel and golden pen!

"It came from Bertrand's, not the skies;

L.

I gave it you to write again.

"But, Friend, take heed whom you attack; "You'll bring a House (I mean of Peers) "Red, Blue, and Green, nay white and black, L------ and all about your ears.

"You'd write as fmooth again on glass,
"And run, on ivory, so glib,

As not to stick at fool or afs",
"Nor ftop at Flattery or Fib.

"Athenian Queen! and fober charms! "I tell ye, fool, there's nothing in't; 'Tis Venus, Venus gives these arms; "In Dryden's Virgil fee the print®,

NOTES.

A famous toy-fhop at Bath.

b The Dunciad.

The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot.

Such toys being the ufual prefents from lovers to their miftreffes.

When the delivers Æneas a fuit of heavenly armour.

"Come, if you'll be a quiet foul,

"That dares tell neither Truth nor Lies,

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"Of those that fing of these poor eyes."

NOTES.

fi. e. If you have neither the courage to write Satire, nor the application to attempt an Epic poem.-He was then meditating on fuch a work.

BRITISH

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