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

In two volumes. With Decorations. The fourth edition
Shenstone, William (1714-1763)

collapse sectionI. 
VOL. I.
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ELEGIES, WRITTEN ON Many different Occasions.
 I. 
ELEGY I. He arrives at his retirement in the country, and takes occasion to expatiate in praise of simplicity.
 II. 
ELEGY II. On posthumous reputation.
 III. 
ELEGY III. On the untimely death of a certain learned acquaintance.
 IV. 
ELEGY IV. Ophelia's urn. To Mr. G---.
 V. 
ELEGY V. He compares the turbulence of love with the tranquillity of friendship.
 VI. 
ELEGY VI. To a lady on the language of birds.
 VII. 
ELEGY VII. He describes his vision to an acquaintance.
 VIII. 
ELEGY VIII. He describes his early love of poetry, and its consequences. To Mr. G---. 1745.
 IX. 
ELEGY IX. He describes his disinterestedness to a friend.
 X. 
ELEGY X. To fortune, suggesting his motive for repining at her dispensations.
 XI. 
ELEGY XI. He complains how soon the pleasing novelty of life is over.
 XII. 
ELEGY XII. His recantation.
 XIII. 
ELEGY XIII. To a friend, on some slight occasion estranged from him.
 XIV. 
ELEGY XIV. Declining an invitation to visit foreign countries, he takes occasion to intimate the advantages of his own.
 XV. 
ELEGY XV. In memory of a private family in Worcestershire.
 XVI. 
ELEGY XVI. He suggests the advantages of birth to a person of merit, and the folly of a superciliousness that is built upon that sole foundation.
 XVII. 
ELEGY XVII. He indulges the suggestions of spleen: an elegy to the winds.
 XVIII. 
ELEGY XVIII. He repeats the song of Collin, a discerning shepherd; lamenting the state of the woollen manufactury.
 XIX. 
ELEGY XIX. Written in spring 1743.
 XX. 
ELEGY XX. He compares his humble fortune with the distress of others; and his subjection to Delia, with the miserable servitude of an African slave.
 XXI. 
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.
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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.
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SONGS, written chiefly between the Year 1737 and 1742.
 I. 
SONG I.
 II. 
SONG II. The Landskip.
 III. 
SONG III.
 IV. 
SONG IV. The Sky-Lark.
 V. 
SONG V.
 VI. 
SONG VI. The Attribute of Venus.
 VII. 
SONG VII.
 VIII. 
SONG VIII.
 IX. 
SONG IX.
 X. 
SONG X.
 XI. 
SONG XI.
 XII. 
SONG 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.
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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.
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ODE To be performed by Dr. Brettle, and a Chorus of Hales-owen Citizens.
  
AIR by the Doctor.
  
CHORUS of Citizens.
  
SOLO by the Doctor.
  
DUETTE.
  
EPILOGUE to the Tragedy of Cleone.
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MORAL PIECES.
  
THE Judgment of HERCULES.
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The Progress of TASTE.
 1. 
PART the FIRST.
 2. 
PART the SECOND.
 3. 
PART the THIRD.
 4. 
PART the FOURTH.
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OECONOMY, A RHAPSODY, addressed to young Poets.
 1. 
PART the FIRST.
 2. 
PART the SECOND.
 3. 
PART the THIRD.
  
The Ruin'd ABBY;
  
LOVE and HONOUR.
  
The SCHOOL-MISTRESS.
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VOL. 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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ODE to INDOLENCE. 1750.

Ah! why for ever on the wing
Persists my weary'd soul to roam?
Why, ever cheated, strives to bring
Or pleasure or contentment home?
131

Thus the poor bird, that draws his name
From paradise's honour'd groves,
Careless fatigues his little frame;
Nor finds the resting place he loves.
Lo! on the rural mossy bed
My limbs with careless ease reclin'd;
Ah, gentle sloth! indulgent spread
The same soft bandage o'er my mind.
For why should ling'ring thought invade,
Yet ev'ry wordly prospect cloy?
Lend me, soft sloth, thy friendly aid,
And give me peace, debarr'd of joy.
Lov'st thou yon calm and silent flood,
That never ebbs, that never flows;
Protected by the circling wood
From each tempestuous wind that blows?
An altar on its bank shall rise,
Where oft thy votary shall be found;
What time pale autumn lulls the skies,
And sickening verdure fades around.
Ye busy race, ye factious train,
That haunt ambition's guilty shrine;
No more perplex the world in vain,
But offer here your vows with mine.
132

And thou, puissant queen! be kind:
If e'er I shar'd thy balmy pow'r;
If e'er I sway'd my active mind,
To weave for thee the rural bow'r;
Dissolve in sleep each anxious care;
Each unavailing sigh remove;
And only let me wake to share,
The sweets of friendship and of love.
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