The Works of the English Poets: With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical

Not one immoral, one corrupted thought,
One line, which dying he could wish to blot.
Oh! may to-night your favourable doom
Another laurel add, to grace his tomb:
Whilft he, fuperior now to praise or blame,
Hears not the feeble voice of human fame.
Yet, if to those whom moft on earth he lov'd,
From whom his pious care is now remov'd,
With whom his liberal hand, and bounteous heart,
Shar'd all his little fortune could impart;

If to those friends your kind regard fhall give
What they no longer can from his receive;
That, that, ev'n now, above yon starry pole,
May touch with pleasure his immortal foul.

EPILOGUE

LILLO'S ELMERICK.

OU, who, fupreme o'er every work of wit,

You,

In judgment here, unaw'd, unbiafs'd, fit,
The palatines and guardians of the pit;
If to your minds this merely modern play
No ufeful fenfe, no generous warmth convey;
If fufian here, through each unnatural scene,
In ftrain'd conceits found high, and nothing mean;
If lofty dullness for your vengeance call:
Like Elmerick judge, and let the guilty fall.

But

But if fimplicity, with force and fire, ·

Unlabour'd thoughts and artless words infpire;

If, like the action which thefe fcenes relate,
The whole appear irregularly great;
If mafter-strokes the nobler paffions move :
Then, like the king, acquit us, and approve.

TO THE MEMORY OF

WILLIAM SHENSTONE, ESQUIRE;

IN WHOSE VERSES

WERE ALL THE NATURAL GRACES,

AND IN WHOSE MANNERS

WAS ALL THE AMIABLE SIMPLICITY,
OF PASTORAL POETRY,

WITH THE SWEET TENDERNESS

IV. On the Pedestal of an URN*,

ALEXANDRO POPE;

POETARVM ANGLICANORVM

ELEGANTISSIMO DVLCISSIMOQVE;

VIRORVM CASTIGATORI ACERRIMO,

SAPIENTIAE DOCTORI SVAVISSIMO,

SACRA ESTO.

ANN. DOM. MDCCXLIV.

V. On a BENCH.

LIBET IACERE MODO SVB ANTIQVA ILICE,
MODO IN TENACE GRAMINE;

LABVNTVR ALTIS INTERIM RIVIS AQVAE;
QVAERVNTVR IN SYLVIS AVES:

FONTESQUE LYMPHIS OBSTREPVNT MANANTIBVS
SOMNOS QVOD INVITET LEVES.

VI. On THOMSON'S SEAT †.

INGENIO IMMORTALI

IACOBI THOMSON,

POETAE SVBLIMIS,

VIRI BONI;

ADDICVLAM HANC, QVEM VIVVS DILEXIT,
POST MORTEM EIVS CONSTRVCTAM,
DICAT DEDICATQVE

GEORGIVS LYTTELTON."

*A Doric portico in another part of the park is ho-
noured with the name of "Pope's Building," and
infcribed, QVIETI ET MVSIS.

A very handfome and well-finished building, in
an octagonal line.

CONTENTS

I. Uncertainty. To Mr. Pope,

II. Hope. To Mr. Doddington,

III. Jealousy. To Mr. Edward Walpole,
IV. Poffeffion. To Lord Cobham,

In Four

Page 3

Soliloquy of a Beauty in the country. Written at
Eaton School,

Blenheim. Written at the University of Oxford, in

the Year 1727,

To the Reverend Dr. Ayfcough, at Oxford. Writ-
ten from Paris in the Year 1728,

To Mr. Poyntz, Ambassador at the Congress of

Soiffons, in 1728. Written at Paris,

30
Verses to be written under a Picture of Mr. Poyntz, 33
An Epistle to Mr. Pope. From Rome, 1730. 34.
To Lord Hervey, in the Year 1730. From Wor-
cestershire,

Advice to a Lady. 1731.