Scarce have my foot-steps prefs'd the favour'd ground,
When founds etherial ftrike my ear;
At once celestial forms appear;

My fugitives are found!

The Mufes here attune their lyres,

Ah partial! with unwonted fires;

Here, hand in hand, with careless mien,

The sportive Graces trip the

green.

But whilft I wander'd o'er a fcene fo fair,
Too well at one furvey I trace,

How every Mufe, and every Grace,
Had long employ'd their care.

Lurks not a stone enrich'd with lively stain,
Blooms not a flower amid the vernal store,
Falls not a plume on India's distant plain,
Glows not a fhell on Adria's rocky shore,
But, torn methought from native lands or feas,
From their arrangement, gain freth power to please.
And fome had bent the wildering maze,
Bedeckt with every fhrub that blows;
And fome entwin'd the willing sprays,
To fhield th' illuftrious dame's repofe :
Others had grac'd the fprightly dome,
And taught the portrait where to glow;
Others arrang'd the curious tome;
Or, 'mid the decorated space,

Affign'd the laurel'd bust a place,

And given to learning all the pomp of show.

And

And now from every task withdrawn,
They met and frisk'd it o'er the lawn.

Ah! woe is me, faid I;

And ***'s hilly circuit heard my cry,
Have I for this, with labour ftrove,
And lavish'd all my little ftore
To fence for you my shady grove,
And scollop every winding shore;

And fringe with every purple rofe,
The fapphire ftream that down my valley flows?

Ah! lovely treacherous maids!

To quit unfeen my votive fhades,

When pale disease, and torturing pain,

Had torn me from the breezy plain,
And to a restless couch confin'd,

Who ne'er your wonted tasks declin'd.
She needs not your officious aid

To fwell the fong, or plan the shade;
By genuine fancy fir'd,

Her native genius guides her hand,
And while the marks the fage command,
More lovely scenes her fkill fhall raife,

Her lyre refound with nobler lays
Than ever you inspir'd.

Thus I may rage and grief display ;
But vainly blame, and vainly mourn,
Nor will a Grace or Mufe return
Till Luxborough lead the way.

Το

To a LADY, with fome coloured Patterns of Flowers, October 7, 1736.

MADAM!

TH

HOUGH rude the draughts, though artlefs feem
the lines,

From one unskill'd in verse, or in defigns;
Oft has good-nature been the fool's defence,
And honeft meaning gilded want of fenfe.
Fear not, though flowers and beauty grace my lay,
To praife one fair, another fhall decay.
No lily, bright with painted foliage, here,
Shall only languish, when Selinda's near:
A Fate revers'd no fmiling rose shall know,
Nor with reflected luftre doubly glow.
Praises which languish when apply'd to you,
Where flattering fchemes feem obviously true,

Yet fure your fex is near to flowers ally'd,
Alike in foftness, and alike in pride :
Foes to retreat, and ever fond to shine,
Both rush to danger, and the shades decline;
Expos'd, the short-liv'd pageants of a day,

To painted flies or glittering fops a prey :

Chang'd with each wind, nor one short day the fame,
Each clouded sky affects their tender frame.
In glaring Chloe's man-like tafte and mien,
Are the grofs fplendors of the Tulip feen:
Distant they strike, inelegantly gay,

To the near view no pleasing charms display.

To

To form the nymph, a vulgar wit must join,
As coarfer foils will moft the flower refine.
Ophelia's beauties let the Jasmine paint,
Too faintly foft, too nicely elegant.
Around with feeming fanctity endued,
The Paffion-flower may best exprefs the Prude.
Like the gay Rofe, too rigid Silvia shines,
While, like its guardian thorn, her virtue joins.
Happy the nymph! from all their failures free,
Happy the nymph! in whom their charms agree.
Faint thefe productions, till you bid difclofe,
The Pink new fplendors, and fresh tints the Rofe:
And yet condemn not trivial draughts like thefe,
Form'd to improve, and make ev'n trifles please.
A power like yours minuter beauties warms,
And yet can blaft the most aspiring charms :
Thus, at the rays whence other objects fhine,
The taper fickens, and its flames decline.
When by your art the purple Violet lives,
And the pale Lily sprightlier charms receives:
Garters to me fhall glow inferior far,
And with lefs pleasing luftre shine the star.
Let ferious triflers, fond of wealth or fame,
On toils like thefe beftow too foft a name;
Each gentler art with wife indifference view,
And fcorn one trifle, millions to pursue:
More artful I, their fpecious fchemes deride,
Fond to please you, by you in these employ'd;
A nobler task, or more fublime defire,
Ambition ne'er could form, nor pride infpire :

The

The sweets of tranquil life and rural ease
Amufe fecurely, nor lefs juftly please.
Where gentle pleasure fhews her milder power,
Or blooms in fruit, or sparkles in the flower;
Smiles in the groves, the raptur'd poet's theme;
Flows in the brook, his Naiad of the stream;
Dawns, with each happier stroke the pencil gives,
And, in each livelier image, fmiling lives;

Is heard, when Silvia strikes the warbling strings,
Selinda speaks, or Philomela fings:
Breathes with the morn; attends, propitious maid,
The evening ramble, and the noon-day glade;
Some vifionary fair she cheats our view,
Then only vigorous, when the 's feen like you.
Yet nature fome for fprightlier joys defign'd,
For brighter fcenes, with nicer care, refin'd.
When the gay jewel radiant streams fupplies,
And vivid brilliants meet your brighter eyes;
When drefs and pomp around the fancy play,
By fortune's dazzling beauties borne away:
When theatres for you the scenes forego,
And the box bows, obfequiously low:
How dull the plan which indolence has drawn,
The moffy grotto, or the flowery lawn!
Though rofeate scents in every wind exhale,
And fylvan warblers charm in every gale.

Of these be her's the choice, whom all approve;

And whom, but those who envy, all must love:
By nature model'd, by experience taught,

To know and pity every female fault :