"At each diftinguifh'd birth-night ball, to fee
"The homage, due to Empire, paid to me!
"When every eye was fixk on me alone,
"And dreaded mine more than the Monarch's frown;
"When rival statefmen for my favour strove,
"Lefs jealous in their power than in their love.
"Chang'd is the scene; and all my glories die,
"Like flowers tranfplanted, to a colder sky :
"Loft is the dear delight of giving pain,
"The tyrant joy of hearing flaves complain.
"In ftupid indolence my life is spent,
Supinely calm, and dully innocent:
"Unbleft I wear my useless time away;
"Sleep (wretched maid!) all night, and dream all
"Go at fet hours to dinner and to prayer "(For dullness ever must be regular,)
"Now with mamma at tedious whift I play; "Now without fcandal drink infipid tea; "Or in the garden breathe the country air, "Secure from meeting any tempter there; "From books to work, from work to books, I rove, "And am (alas !) at leifure to improve! "Is this the life a Beauty ought to lead ? "Were eyes fo radiant only made to read?
"These fingers, at whofe touch ev'n age would glow, "Are these of ufe for nothing but to few? "Sure erring Nature never could defign "To form a housewife in a mould like mine!
"O Venus, queen and guardian of the fair,
"Attend propitious to thy votary's prayer:
"Let me revisit the dear town again :
"Let me be feen!-could I that with obtain,
"All other wishes my own power would gain."
Written at the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD,
ARENT of arts, whose skilful hand first taught The towering pile to rife, and form'd the plan With fair proportion; architect divine, Minerva; thee to my adventurous lyre Affiftant I invoke, that means to fing Blenheim, proud monument of British fame, Thy glorious work! for thou the lofty towers Didft to his virtue raife, whom oft thy fhield In peril guarded, and thy wisdom steer'd Through all the storms of war.-Thee too I call, Thalia, fylvan Mufe, who lov't to rove Along the fhady paths and verdant bowers Of Woodstock's happy grove: there tuning sweet Thy rural pipe, while all the Dryad train Attentive liften let thy warbling fong Paint with melodious praife the pleasing scene, And equal thefe to Pindus' honor'd shades.
When Europe freed, confefs'd the faving power Of Malborough's hand; Britain, who fent him forth
Chief of Confederate hofts, to fight the cause
Of Liberty and Justice, grateful rais'd
This palace, facred to her leader's fame:
A trophy of fuccess; with spoils adorn'd
Of conquer'd towns, and glorying in the name
Of that aufpicious field, where Churchill's sword
Vanquish'd the might of Gallia, and chaftis'd
Rebel Bavar.-Majeftic in its ftrength,
Stands the proud dome, and speaks its great design.
Hail, happy chief, whofe valour could deferve
Reward fo glorious! grateful nation, hail,
Who paid'ft his fervice with fo rich a meed!
Which moft fhall I admire, which worthieft praise,
The hero or the people? Honour doubts,
And weighs their virtues in an equal scale.
Not thus Germania pays th' uncancel'd debt
Of Gratitude to us.-Bluh, Cæfar, blush,
When thou behold'st these towers; ingrate, to thee
A monument of fhame! Canft thou forget
Whence they are nam'd, and what an English arm
Did for thy throne that day? But we disdain
Or to upbraid er imitate thy guilt.
Still thy obdurate heart against the fenfe
Of obligation infinite; and know,
Britain, like Heaven, protects a thankless world
For her own glory, nor expects reward.
Pleas'd with the noble theme, her task the Mufe
Pursues untir'd, and through the palace roves
With ever-new delight. The tapestry rich
With gold, and gay with all the beauteous paint
Of various-colour'd filks, difpos'd with skill,
Attracts her curious eye. Here Ifter rolls
His purple wave; and there the Granick flood
With paffing fquadrons foams: here hardy Gaul
Flies from the fword of Britain; there to Greece
Effeminate Perfia yields. In arms oppos'd,
Marlborough and Alexander vie for fame
With glorious competition; equal both
In valour and in fortune: but their praise.
Be different, for with different views they fought
This to fubdue, and that to free mankind.
Now, through the ftately portals iffuing forth,.
The Mufe to fofter glories turns, and seeks
The woodland fhade, delighted. Not the vale
Of Tempe fam'd in fong, or Ida's grove,
Such beauty boats. Amid the mazy gloom
Of this romantic wilderness once ftood
The bower of Rosamonda, hapless fair,
Sacred to Grief and Love; the crystal fount
In which the us'd to bathe her beauteous-limbs-
Still warbling flows, pleas'd to reflect the face
Of Spencer, lovely maid, when tir'd she fits
Befide its flowery brink, and views those charms
Which only Rofamond could once excell..
But fee where, flowing with a nobler ftream,
A limpid lake of pureft waters rolls-
Beneath the wide-ftretch'd arch, ftupendous work,.
Through which the Danube might collected pour
His fpacious urn! Silent a while and smooth
The current glides, till with an headlong force
Broke and diforder'd, down the steep it falls
In loud cafcades; the filver-fparkling foam
Glitters relucent in the dancing ray.
In these retreats repos'd the mighty foul
Of Churchill, from the toils of war and state,.
Splendidly private, and the tranquil joy
Of contemplation felt, while Blenheim's dome
Triumphal ever in his mind renew'd
The memory of his fame, and footh'd his thoughts
With pleafing record of his glorious deeds.
So, by the rage of Faction home recall'd,
Lucullus, while he wag'd fuccefsful war
Against the pride of Asia, and the power
Of Mithridates, whofe afpiring mind
No loffes could fubdue, enrich'd with spoils
Of conquer'd nations, back return'd to Rome,
And in magnificent retirement paft
The evening of his life.-But not alone,
In the calm fhades of honourable eafe,
Great Marlborough peaceful dwelt indulgent Heaven
Gave a companion to his fofter hours,
With whom converfing, he forgot all change
Of fortune, or of ftate, and in her mind
Found greatness equal to his own, and lov'd
Himself in her.Thus each by each admir'd,
In mutual honour, mutual fondness join'd:
Like two fair ftars, with intermingled light,
In friendly union they together shone,
Aiding each other's brightness, till the cloud
Of night eternal quench'd the beams of one.
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