"Whofe heart ner envy knows, nor spite,
"Whofe duty is her fole delight.;
"Norrul'd by whim, nor flave to fashion,
"Her parents' joy, her husband's paffion."
'Fame fmil'd, and and anfwer'd, "On my life,
"This is fome.country parfon's wife,
"Who never faw the court nor town,
"Whofe face is homely as her.
"No, madam, no-you're much mistaken— I beg you'll let me fet you right— "'Tis one with every beauty bright; "Adorn'd with every polish'd art "That rank or fortune can impart; "Tis the most celebrated toast "That Britain's fpacious ifle can boast; 'Tis princely Petworth's noble dame; 'Tis Egrement-Go, tell it, Fame.”
ADDITION, EXTEMPORE,
BY EARL HARDWICKE.
AME heard with pleasure-ftrait replied,
F Firft on my roll ftands Wyndham's bride;
"My trumpet oft I 've rais'd, to found
"Her modeft praise the world around!
But notes were wanting-Canft thou find
A Mufe to fing her face, her mind?
Believe me, I can name but one,
A friend of yours-'tis Lyttelton."
Thousand thanks to your Lordship for your addition to my verses. If you can write fuch extempore, it is well for other poets, that you chofe to be Lord Chancellor, rather than a Laureat. They explain to me a vision I had the night before.
Methought I faw before my feet,
With countenance ferene and sweet,
The Mufe, who, in my youthful days,
Had oft infpir'd my careless lays.
She finil'd, and faid, "Once more I fee
"My fugitive returns to me;
"Long had I loft you from my bower,
"You fcorn'd to own my gentle power;
"With me no more your genius fported,
"The grave hiftoric Muse you courted;
"Or, rais'd from earth, with ftraining eyes;
"Purfued Urania through the skies;
"But now, to my forfaken track,
"Fair Egremont has brought you back:
"Nor blush, by her and Virtue led,
"That soft, that pleasing path, to tread;
"For there, beneath to-morrow's ray,
Evin Wisdom's felf fhall deign to play.
"Lo! to my flowery groves and springs
Her favourite fon the goddess brings,
"The council's and the fenate's guide,
"Law's oracle, the nation's pride :
"He comes, he joys with thee to join,
"In finging Wyndham's charms divine:
"To thine he adds his nobler lays;
Ev'n thee, my friend, he deigns to praife. "Enjoy that praise, nor envy Pitt
His fame with burgess or with cit; "For fure one line from fuch a Bard, Virtue would think her beft reward."
MADAM, before your feet I lay
This ode upon your wedding-day,
The first indeed I ever made,
For writing Odes is not trade:
My head is full of houshold cares,
And neceffary dull affairs;
Befides that fometimes jealous frumps
Will put me into doleful dumps.
And then no clown beneath the sky
Was e'er more ungallant than I;
For you alone I now think fit
To turn a poet and a wit
For you whofe charms, I know not how,
Have power to fmooth my wrinkled brow,
And make me, though by nature stupid,
As brisk, and as alert, as Cupid.
Thefe obligations to repay,
Whene'er your happy nuptial day
Shall with the circling years return,
For you my torch fhall brighter burn
Than when you first my power ador'd,
Nor will I call myself your lord,
But am (as witnefs this my hand)
Your humble fervant at command.
Dear child let Hymen not beguile
You, who are fuch a judge of ftyle,"
To think that he thefe verfes made,
Without an abler penman's aid;
Obferve them well, you'll plainly fee,'
That every line was writ by me.
UCH were the notes that struck the wondering ear
Of filent Night, when, on the verdant banks
Of Siloë's hallow'd brook, celestial harps,
According to feraphic voices, fung
Glory to God on high, and on the earth
Peace and good-will to men !-Resume the lyre,
Chauntress divine, and every Briton call
Its melody to hear-fo fhall thy ftrains,
More powerful than the fong of Orpheus, tame
The favage heart of brutal Vice, and bend
At pure Religion's fhrine the stubborn knees
Of bold Impiety.-Greece fhall no more
Of Lesbian Sappho boast, whose wanton Muse,
Like a falfe Syren, while fhe charm'd, feduc'd
To guilt and ruin. For the facred head
Of Britain's poetess, the Virtues twine
A nobler wreath, by them from Eden's grove-
Unfading gather'd, and direct the hand
Of -to fix it on her brows.
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