Me thus the bright Calliope address'd

(Her name the brightness of her form confefs'd):
The filver fwans of Venus wait to bear,
Thee fafe in pomp along the liquid air.
Pleas'd with thy peaceful province, ftrait recall
Thy rafh defign to fing the wounded Gaul.
Harsh founds the trumpet in the Mufes' grove,
But fweet the lute, the lute is fit for love.
No more rehearse the Danube's purple ftream,
Let love for ever be the tender theme.
And in thy verfe reveal the moving art,
To melt an haughty nymph's relentless heart.
The goddefs ceafing, to confirm me more,
My face with hallow'd drops fhe fprinkled o'er ;
Fetch'd from the fountain, by whose flowery fide,
Soft Waller fung of Sacharifla's pride.

To the Right Honourable the Lady

MARGARET CAVENDISH HARLEY,

WITH THE POEMS OF MR. WALLER.

LET others boaft the nine Aonian maids,
Infpiring ftreams, and fweet refounding fhades;
Where Phoebus heard the rival bards rehearfe,
And bade the laurels learn the lofty verfe.
In vain! Nor Phobus, 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 wondering 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 breast :
But, fir'd to fame by Sidney's rofy fmile,
Swift o'er the laureat realms he urg’d his toil.
His Mufe, 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 powers of love :
More fweetly foft her awful beauty fhone,
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 harmonize the found;
With varied notes the curious ear to please,
And turn a nervous thought with artful cafe.
Maker, and model, of melodius verfe!
Accept thefe votive honors at thy hearfe.
While I with filial awe attempt thy praise,
Infufe thy genius, and my fancy raise !
So, warbling o'er his urn, the woodland choirs
To Orpheus pay the fong his fhade infpires.

In Waller's fame, O fairest Harley! view
What verdant palms fhall owe their birth to you.

Τα

To you what deathless charms are thence decreed,
In Sachariffa's fate vouchfafe to read.
Secure beneath the wing of withering Time,
Her beauties flourish in ambrofial prime;

Still kindling rapture, fee! she 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 stain the virgin-white :
How bright, and chaste, the poet and his theme
So Cynthia fhines on Arethufa's ftream.}
A fainted virtue to the spheres may fing
Those ftrains, 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 fragant 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 strife,
While love was all the penfive care of life,
The swains in green retreats, with flowrets crown'd,
Taught the young groves their paffion to refound:
Fancy pursued 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 flower, or sparkled in a star.

6

Bright

Bright as the stars, and fragrant as the flowers
Where Spring refides in soft Elysian bowers;
While these the bowers 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 Carlifle's wit, her gefture, and her mien;
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 chafte attraction gay,
Mild as the dove-ey'd morn awakes the May,
Of nobleft youths will reign the public care,
Their joy, their with, their wonder, and despair.
Far-beaming thence what bright ideas flow!
The fifter-arts with fudden rapture glow :
Her Titian tints the painter-nymph refumes ;
The canvas warm with rofeate beauty blooms:
Infpir'd with life by Sculpture's happy toil,
The marble breathes, and foftens with your finile;
Proud to receive the form, by fate defign'd

The fairest model of the fairer kind.

But hear, O hear the Muse's heavenly voice!
The waving woods and echoing vales rejoice :
Attend, ye gales! to Margaretta's praife;
And all ye liftening Loves record the lays!
So, Philomela charms th' Idalian grove,
When Venus, in the glowing orb of love,

O'er

O'er ocean, earth, and air, extends her reign;
The firft, the brightest of the starry train.

What favourite youth affign the Fates to rife,
In bridal pomp to lead the blooming prize?
Whether his father's garter'd fhield fuftains
Trophies, atchiev'd on Gallia's viny plains:
Or, fmilling Peace a mingled wreath displays.
The Patriot's olive, and the Poet's bays:
Adorn, ye fates! the favourite youth affign'd,
With each ennobling grace of form, and mind a
In merit make him great, as great in blood;
Great without pride, and amiably good ;
His breaft the guardian ark of heaven-born law,
To ftrike a faithlefs age with confcious awe.
In choice of friends by manly reafon fway'd;
Not fear'd, but honour'd; and with love obey'd.
In courts, and camps, in council, and retreat,
Wife, brave, and ftudious to fupport the state,
With candour firm; without ambition bold;
No deed difcolour'd with the guilt of gold.
That heaven may judge the choiceft bleffigns due
And give the various good compriz'd in you.

i

PRO