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 |
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| 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.
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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.
Thy Volumes, opening to my curious GazeTheir num'rous Pages deepen'd with the Shade
Of antique Wisdom's mystic Lore, I read,
While all my Frame the Powers of Wonder seize!
Yet, rapt in high Delight, I see the Rays
Of luminous Description oft pervade
The historic Gloom, when rushes to thy Aid
Energic Fancy rob'd in solar Blaze—
—How then (my Bosom yet misgiving sighs)
How can the Historian, whose sublimer Views
Far—far above my loftiest Efforts rise,
The Precepts of Didactic Song peruse?—
And with the Candor of approving Eyes
Light to fair Honors the sequester'd Muse?
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