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Poems

Namely, The English Orator; An Address to Thomas Pennant Sonnets; An Epistle to a College Friend; and The Lock Transformed. With notes on The English Orator. By Mr. Polwhele
Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

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ADDRESS to THOMAS PENNANT, Esq.
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SONNETS.
 1. 
SONNET the FIRST. To Laura. Written 1782.
 2. 
SONNET the SECOND. On being prevented, by a sudden Shower, from meeting Laura. Written 1782.
 3. 
SONNET the THIRD. To his Wife. Written 1784.
 4. 
SONNET the FOURTH. To the same. Written 1784.
 5. 
SONNET the FIFTH. Written at Mamhead, beneath an Evergreen Oak—May, 1785.
 6. 
SONNET the SIXTH. Written at the Belvidere—Powderham, May, 1785.
 7. 
SONNET the SEVENTH.
 8. 
SONNET the EIGHTH.
 9. 
SONNET the NINTH.
 10. 
SONNET the TENTH.
 11. 
SONNET the ELEVENTH.
 12. 
SONNET the TWELFTH.
 13. 
SONNET the THIRTEENTH.
 14. 
SONNET the FOURTEENTH.
 17. 
SONNET the SEVENTEENTH. To Mr. Pratt, on reading his “Landscapes in Verse.” Written September, 1785.
 18. 
SONNET the EIGHTEENTH. To the Reverend Mr. Whitaker, Author of the History of Manchester, On his expressing his Approbation of the “Art of Eloquence.” Written November, 1785.
 19. 
SONNET the NINETEENTH. Presented to Major Drewe, with a Translation of the Military Poems of Tyrtæus.—January 26, 1786.
 20. 
SONNET the TWENTIETH. To the AUTHOR, on seeing his Plan for a History of Devonshire, 1790.
  
EPISTLE TO A COLLEGE-FRIEND,
  
THE LOCK TRANSFORMED.

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211

SONNET the NINTH.

[Tho' the group'd Trees that boast a wilder Grace]

Tho' the group'd Trees that boast a wilder Grace,
Steal from the Painter's Art their varied Site,
And their rich Mass of Shadow and of Light,
Where Nature's seeming Negligence we trace;
Yet, ye long Avenues, of awful Height
And mystic Air,—shall Fancy dare efface
The hoary Grandeur of your Gothic Race?—
While spreading a Cathedral Gloom, unite
Your Pillars, in immeasurable Shade,
With the dim Arch, that waving to the Beam
Of sportive Day, for Ages, hath portray'd
The restless Image of a billowy Stream
Shot on the “chequer'd Earth,” whose Walks below
Dance to the cheated Eye, with undulating Flow!
 

This beautiful Image is borrowed from Mr. Cowper's “Task.”

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