The works, in verse and prose, of William Shenstone, Esq ::

ELEGY XXI. Taking a view of the country from his retirement, he is led to meditate on the character of the ancient Britons. Written at the time of a rumoured tax upon luxury, 1746.

XXII.

ELEGY XXII. Written in the year --- when the rights of sepulture were so frequently violated.

XXIII.

ELEGY XXIII. Reflections suggested by his situation.

XXIV.

ELEGY XXIV. He takes occasion from the fate of Eleanor of Bretagne , to suggest the imperfect pleasures of a solitary life.

XXV.

ELEGY XXV. To Delia, with some flowers; complaining how much his benevolence suffers on account of his humble fortune.

XXVI.

ELEGY XXVI. Describing the sorrow of an ingenuous mind, on the melancholy event of a licentious amour.

ODES, SONGS, BALLADS, &c.

RURAL ELEGANCE. An ODE to the late Dutchess of Somerset.

ODE to MEMORY. 1748.

The Princess ELIZABETH: A Ballad alluding to a story recorded of her, when she was prisoner at Woodstock, 1554.

ODE to a young LADY, Somewhat too solicitous about her manner of expression.

NANCY of the VALE.

ODE to INDOLENCE. 1750.

ODE to HEALTH. 1730.

To a LADY of QUALITY,

UPON A VISIT to the same in Winter. 1748.

AN Irregular ODE after Sickness. 1749.

Written in a Flower Book of my own Colouring, designed for Lady Plimouth. 1753–4.

AN ACREONTIC. 1738.

ODE. Written 1739.

The DYING KID.

SONGS, written chiefly between the Year 1737 and 1742.

SONG I.

II.

SONG II. The Landskip.

III.

SONG III.

IV.

SONG IV. The Sky-Lark.

SONG V.

VI.

SONG VI. The Attribute of Venus.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

SONG XIII. The Scholar's Relapse.

XIV.

SONG XIV. The Rose-Bud.

XV.

SONG XV.

XVI.

SONG XVI. Daphne's Visit.

XVII.

SONG XVII. Written in a Collection of Bacchanalian Songs.

XVIII.

SONG XVIII. Imitated from the French.

The HALCYON.

ODE.

A PASTORAL ODE,

VERSES written towards the close of the Year 1748, to William Lyttelton, Esq

JEMMY DAWSON. A Ballad; written about the Time of his Execution, in the Year 1745.

A Pastoral BALLAD, in Four Parts.

LEVITIES;

FLIRT and PHIL;

Stanzas to the Memory of an agreeable Lady, buried in Marriage to a Person undeserving her.

COLEMIRA.

The Rape of the Trap.

On certain PASTORALS.

On Mr. C--- of Kidderminster's Poetry.

To the VIRTUOSOS.

The Extent of COOKERY.

The Progress of ADVICE.

A BALLAD.

Slender's Ghost. vid. Shakespear.

The INVIDIOUS.

The Price of an EQUIPAGE.

Hint from VOITURE.

INSCRIPTION.

To a FRIEND.

The POET and the DUN. 1741.

Written at an Inn at Henley.

A SIMILE.

The Charms of Precedence.

ODE To be performed by Dr. Brettle, and a Chorus of Hales-owen Citizens.

EPILOGUE to the Tragedy of Cleone.

MORAL PIECES.

THE Judgment of HERCULES.

The Progress of TASTE.

OECONOMY, A RHAPSODY, addressed to young Poets.

II.

VERSES TO Mr. SHENSTONE.

To William Shenstone, Esq; at the Leasowes.

VERSES received by the post, from a LADY unknown, 1761.

On the discovery of an echo at Edgbaston. By ---/---

VERSES by Mr. Dodsley, on his first arrival at the LEASOWES, 1754.

To Mr. R. D. on the Death of Mr. Shenstone.

VERSES written at the Gardens of William Shenstone, Esquire, near Birmingham, 1756.

To William Shenstone, Esq; in his Sickness.

VERSES left on a Seat, the Hand unknown.

CORYDON, A PASTORAL.

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ELEGY XXI. Taking a view of the country from his retirement, he is led to meditate on the character of the ancient Britons. Written at the time of a rumoured tax upon luxury, 1746.

Thus Damon sung—What tho' unknown to praise
Umbrageous coverts hide my muse and me;
Or 'mid the rural shepherds, flow my days,
Amid the rural shepherds, I am free.

To view sleek vassals crowd a stately hall,
Say, should I grow myself a solemn slave?
To find thy tints, O Titian! grace my wall,
Forego the flow'ry fields my fortune gave?

Lord of my time my devious path I bend,
Thro' fringy woodland, or smooth-shaven lawn;
Or pensile grove, or airy cliff ascend,
And hail the scene by nature's pencil drawn.

Thanks be to fate—tho' nor the racy vine,
Nor fatt'ning olive cloath the fields I rove,
Sequester'd shades, and gurgling founts are mine,
And ev'ry silvan grott the muses love.

Here if my vista point the mould'ring pile,
Where hood and cowl devotion's aspect wore,
I trace the tott'ring reliques with a smile,
To think the mental bondage is no more!

Pleas'd if the glowing landscape wave with corn;
Or the tall oaks, my country's bulwark, rise;
Pleas'd, if mine eye, o'er thousand vallies borne,
Discern the Cambrian hills support the skies.

And see Plinlimmon! ev'n the youthful sight
Scales the proud hill's etherial cliffs with pain!
Such Caer-caradoc! thy stupendous height,
Whose ample shade obscures th'Iernian main.

Bleak, joyless regions! where, by science fir'd,
Some prying sage his lonely step may bend;
There, by the love of novel plants inspir'd,
Inviduous view the clamb'ring goats ascend.

Yet for those mountains, clad with lasting snow,
The freeborn Briton left his greenest mead,
Receding sullen from his mightier foe,
For here he saw fair liberty recede.

Then if a chief perform'd a patriot's part,
Sustain'd her drooping sons, repell'd her foes,
Above or Persian luxe, or Attic art,
The rude majestic monument arose.

Progressive ages carol'd forth his fame;
Sires, to his praise, attun'd their children's tongue;
The hoary druid fed the gen'rous flame,
While, in such strains, the rev'rend vizard sung.

“Go forth, my sons!—for what is vital breath,
Your gods expell'd, your liberty resign'd?
Go forth, my sons! for what is instant death
To souls secure perennial joys to find?

For scenes there are, unknown to war or pain,
Where drops the balm that heals a tyrant's wound;
Where patriots, blest with boundless freedom, reign,
With misletoe's mysterious garlands crown'd,

Such are the names that grace your mystic songs;
Your solemn woods resound their martial fire;
To you, my sons, the ritual meed belongs,
If in the cause you vanquish, or expire.

Hark! from the sacred oak that crowns the groves,
What aweful voice my raptur'd bosom warms;
This is the favour'd moment heav'n approves,
Sound the shrill trump; this instant, sound, to arms.”

Theirs was the science of a martial race,
To shape the lance, or decorate the shield;
Ev'n the fair virgin stain'd her native grace,
To give new horrors to the tented field.

Now, for some cheek where guilty blushes glow,
For some false Florimel's impure disguise,
The listed youth, nor war's loud signal know,
Nor virtue's call, nor fame's imperial prize.

Then if soft concord lull'd their fears to sleep,
Inert and silent slept the manly car;
But rush'd horrific o'er the fearful steep,
If freedom's aweful clarion breath'd to war.

Now the sleek courtier, indolent and vain,
Thron'd in the splendid carriage glides supine;
To taint his virtue with a foreign strain,
Or at a sav'ourite's board, his faith resign.

Leave then, O luxury! this happy soil!
Chase her, Britannia, to some hostile shore!
Or fleece the baneful pest with annual spoil,
And let thy virtuous offspring weep no more!

Alludes to a tax upon Luxury, then in debate.

University of Virginia Library

ELEGY XXI. Taking a view of the country from his retirement, he is led to meditate on the character of the ancient Britons. Written at the time of a rumoured tax upon luxury, 1746.