How doth thy bowl intoxicate the mind!
To the foft entrance of thy rofy cave
How doft thou lure the fortunate and great!
Dreadful attraction! while behind thee gapes
Th' unfathomable gulph where Ashur lies
O'erwhelm'd, forgotten; and high-boafting Cham;
And Elam's haughty pomp; and beauteous Greece;
And the great queen of earth, imperial ROME.

XXXXXXX

THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS.

A POE M,
РОЕ

In IMITATION of SPENSER.

By WILLIAM SHENSTONE, Efq;*

Audite voces, vagitus & ingens,
Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.

VIRG.

ADVERTISEMENT.

What particulars in Spenfer were imagin'd moft proper for the Author's imitation on this occafion, are his language, his fimplicity, his manner of defcription, and a peculiar tenderness of fentiment remarkable throughout his works.

A

I.

H me! full forely is my heart forlorn,

To think how modeft worth neglected lies; While partial Fame doth with her blasts adorn Such deeds alone, as pride and pomp disguise;

Deeds

a William Shenftone, Efq; was born at the Leafowes, in the parish of Hales Owen, and county of Salop, Nov. 1714. He was taught to read

Deeds of ill fort, and mifchievous emprize!
Lend me thy clarion, goddess! let me try
To found the praise of merit, ere it dies ;
Such as I oft have chaunced to espy,
Loft in the dreary fhades of dull obfcurity.

II.

In every village, mark'd with little spire,
Embow'r'd in trees, and hardly known to Fame,
There dwells, in lowly shed, and mean attire,
A matron old, whom we school-mistress name;

by the old dame whom he has delivered to pofterity in the prefent poem, after which, he went some time to the grammar-school in Hales Owen, then to Mr. Crompton, an eminent schoolmafter at Solihul, and in 1732 was entered a commoner of Pembroke College, Oxford. He continued his name at the University ten years, but took no degree, nor made the slightest effort to engage in any profeffion. After spending a few years with great inattention to his fortune, and much to the injury of it, he, about the year 1745, went to refide upon his eftate, which he ornamented with fo much tafte, that it became one of the chief objects of curiofity, to those whom bufinefs or pleasure called to that part of the kingdom. Unfortunately for Mr. Shenstone, his income was not equal to the expence which his improvements demanded. He embarraffed his circumstances, and dragged out the latter part of his life difcontentedly, and in diftrefs. It is faid, that if he had lived a little longer, he would have been affifted by a penfion, which death prevented him from enjoying. He died at the Leafowes, of a putrid fever, about five on Friday morning, Feb. 11, 1763, and was buried in the churchyard of Hales Owen.

Who boasts unruly brats with birch to tame.
They grieven fore, in piteous durance pent,
Aw'd by the pow'r of this relentless dame :
And oft-times on vagaries idly bent,

For unkempt hair, or task unconn'd, are forely fhent.
III.

And all in fight doth rise a birchen tree,

Which Learning near her little dome did stowe;
Whilom a twig of fmall regard to fee,

Though now fo wide its waving branches flow;
And work the fimple vaffals mickle woe;
For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew,
But their limbs fhudder'd, and their pulfe beat low;
And, as they look'd, they found their horror grew,
And shap'd it into rods, and tingled at the view.

IV.

So have I feen (who has not may conceive,)

A lifeless phantom near a garden plac'd :
So doth it wanton birds of peace bereave,

Of fport, of fong, of pleasure, of repast;

They ftart, they ftare, they wheel, they look aghaft : Sad fervitude! fuch comfortless annoy

May no bold Briton's riper age e'er taste!

Ne Superftition clog his dance of joy,

Ne vifion empty, vain, his native bliss destroy.

V. Near

ས.

Near to this dome is found a patch fo green,
On which the tribe their gambols do display;
And at the door impris'ning board is feen,
Left weakly wights of fmaller fize should stray;
Eager, perdie, to bask in funny day!

The noises intermix'd, which thence refound,
Do Learning's little tenement betray:

Where fits the dame, difguis'd in look profound,

And eyes her fairy throng, and turns her wheel around.

VI.

Her cap, far whiter than the driven fnow,
Emblem right meet of decency does yield:
Her apron dy'd in grain, as blue, I trowe,
As is the Hare-bell that adorns the field:
And in her hand, for scepter, she does wield
Tway birchen sprays; with anxious Fear entwin'd,
With dark Diftruft, and fad Repentance fill'd;
And ftedfaft Hate, and fharp Affliction join'd,
And Fury uncontroul'd, and Chaftifement unkind.

VII.

Few but have ken'd, in femblance meet pourtray'd,
The childish faces of old Eol's train

;

Libs, Notus, Aufter: thefe in frowns array'd,
How then would fare or earth, or sky, or main,