University of Virginia Library

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233

Verses addressed to a Gentleman, who commended the Durham Ladies.

In vain you talk of Mowbray's mien,
Who moves in Dance the Cyprian queen;
Of Dunning's charms, with pow'r to move
The frozen heart of age to love;
Of Williamson's enchanting air,
Majestic form, divinely fair!
Whose beauty sets the world on fire,
And virtue makes the flame expire,
Yet her sweet converse strikes you more,
Than all those charms mankind adore;
Of Fanny Hall, her sex's pride,
By merit made a blooming bride;

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234

(So fond a sympathy of hearts
Their mutual happiness imparts;
Each man of taste her form approves,
And spite of resolution loves;
Those dimpled smiles and piercing eyes
Make half the gallant world her prize:
With sense of that peculiar cast,
Which merit will for ever last,
When all her beauties in their prime
Shall wither in the arms of time.)
Or Lascelles, in the bloom of youth,
Adorn'd with innocence and truth,
Whose carriage flows with so much ease,
In her 'tis natural to please;
And sprightly Trotter debonnair,
With all the graces of the fair;

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235

Who raises in your breast alarms,
Without the help of beauty's charms,
With virtues, which you seldom find
To flourish in a female mind.
‘Bowes, Wharton, Rutter, claim your song,
‘(Their praise would make my verse too long)
‘And many a nymph on Durham plain,
‘Who captivates her dying swain.’

Here Venus blushing, in a rage,
Condemn'd to flames my partial page:
‘To beauty dedicate your lays,
‘Yet Wilkinson escape your praise!
‘Poets should have a better taste,
‘Or else their works will never last.’

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236

I own'd the censure too severe,
Let drop a penitential tear,
Which moves the Goddess to forgive
My crime, and let my verses live.
But, what are all their boasted charms,
Except you revel in their arms?
No more than colours to the blind,
Or lovers sighing to the wind:
Or lovely Bacon's manly sense,
If silent,—with such eloquence;
Whose modesty conceals her worth,
Like treasure hid beneath the earth.

‘But honour checks each loose desire,
‘And reason cools the raging fire;

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237

‘For none but villains can approve
‘The joys, that ruin her they love.’
Yet nature claims her tribute due
To the frail part of me and you:
'Tis not to gaze upon the fair
Makes their creation worth our care;
If travellers with drought are curst,
Will painted rivers quench their thirst?

Then come, my Delia, to my bed,
In spite of all the world has said!
Let disappointed coxcombs boast
Of favours granted by my toast!
While modest nymphs devoutly rail,
To show their nature is not frail;

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238

And vent their scandal over tea:
That must be truth, where all agree;
No bribe can force a female tongue
Another's injur'd fame to wrong;
For sympathy unites their hearts,
And makes them take each other's parts.
Then let the world condemn, or praise,
Your conduct, or my trivial lays!
In joys extatic we will drown,
And scorn the censure of the town:
For lyes, like mushrooms sprung from earth,
Not long survive their spurious birth;
While fools and knaves repine with shame,
To find their malice miss its aim.