Dedication.

Opus marmor M. RYSBRAKE Londini.

TO THE

RIGHT HONORABLE

THE

Lady Margaret Cavendishe Harley.

SET others boaft the nine AONIAN maids,

Infpiring ftreams, and sweet-refound-
ing fhades;

Where PHOEBUS heard the rival bards rehearse,
And bade the Laurels learn the lofty verse.
In vain! Nor PHOEBUS, nor the boafted NINE,
Inflame the raptur'd foul with rays divine:
None but the Fair infufe the facred fire,
And love with vocal art informs the lyre.

When WALLER, kindling with cœleftial rage,
View'd the bright HARLEY of that wond'ring age,
His pleafing pain he taught the lute to breathe;
The GRACES fung, and wove his myrtle wreath.
In youth, of patrimonial wealth possest,
The praise of science faintly warm'd his breaft:
But, fir'd to fame by SIDNEY's rofy smile,
Swift o'er the laureat realm he urg’d his toil.
His MUSE, by nature form'd to please the Fair,
Or fing of Heroes with majestic air,

To melting ftrains attun'd her voice, and ftrove
To waken all the tender Pow'rs of love :
More sweetly foft her awful beauty shone,
Than JUNO grac'd with CYTHEREA's zone.

As Angels love, congenial fouls unite
Their radiance, and refine each other's light :
The florid, and fublime, the grave, and gay,
From WALLER's beams imbibe a purer ray:
Illumin'd thence in equal Lays to bound
Their copious fenfe, and harmonife the found;
With varied Notes the curious ear to please,
And turn a nervous thought with artful ease.
Maker, and model, of melodious verfe!
Accept these votive honors at thy herse.
While I with filial awe attempt thy praise,

Infuse thy Genius, and my fanfy raise!

So,

So, warbling o'er his urn, the woodland choirs
To ORPHEUS pay the fong his Shade inspires.

In WALLER's fame, O faireft HARLEY! view What verdant palms fhall owe their birth to You. To You what deathlefs charms are thence decreed, In SACHARISSA's fate vouchfafe to read. Secure beneath the wing of with'ring TIME, Her beauties flourish in Ambrofial prime: Still kindling rapture, fee! fhe moves in state; Gods, Nymphs, and Heroes, on her triumph wait. Nor think the lover's praise of love's delight In pureft minds may ftain the virgin-white: How bright, and chaste, the Poet and his Theme So CYNTHIA fhines on ARETHUSA's ftream. A fainted VIRTUE to the spheres may fing Those strains, that ravish'd here the Martyr-King. Plenteous of native wit, in letter'd ease Politely form'd, to profit and to please, To FAME whate'er was due he gave to FAME; And, what he could not praife, forgot to name: Thus EDEN's rofe without a thorn display'd Her bloom, and in a fragrant blush decay'd.

Such foul-attracting airs were fung of old, When blissful years in golden circles roll❜d: Pure from deceit, devoid of fear and ftrife, While love was all the penfive care of life,

A 3

The

The fwains in green retreats, with flourets crown'd, Taught the young groves their paffion to refound: Fancy perfu'd the paths where beauty led, To please the living, or deplore the dead. While to their warbled woe the rocks reply'd, The rills remurmur'd, and the Zephyrs figh'd; From death redeem'd by verfe, the vanish'd Fair Breath'd in a flow'r, or fparkled in a star. Bright as the ftars, and fragrant as the flow'rs Where SPRING refides in foft ELYSIAN bow'rs; While these the bow'rs adorn, and they the sphere, Will SACHARISSA's charms in fong appear. Yet, in the present age, her radiant name Muft take a dimmer interval of fame; When You to full meridian luftre rise, With MORTON's fhape, and GLORIANA's eyes With CARLISLE's wit, her gefture, and her mein; And, like feraphic RICH, with zeal ferene: In fweet affemblage all their graces join'd To language, mode, and manners more refin'd! That Angel-frame, with chaste attraction gay, Mild as the dove-ey'd MORN awakes the MAY, Of nobleft youths will reign the public care, Their joy, their wifh, their wonder, and despair. Far-beaming thence what bright ideas flow! The fifter-arts with fudden rapture glow: Her TITAN tints the PAINTER-Nymph refumes; The canvas warm with roseate beauty blooms: