 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
5
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Earl of BURLINGTON.
My LORD,
While you in gilded Palaces reside,
The Muses Patron, and a Monarch's Pride;
And your bright Consort swells the shining Scenes,
A meet Companion to the best of Queens;
While, justly, both the Royal Favours share,
The Toils of Empire lessen'd by your Care:
Far far remote I live, a lowly Maid,
In humble Solitude and rural Shade;
A Stranger to the Splendors of a Court,
Where Noble Lords and Princely Dames resort.
How shall I then, in so obscure a State,
Ah! with what Confidence address the Great?
Unskill'd in Converse, and in Schools untaught,
Artless my Words, and unrefin'd my Thought:
What Numbers shall I chuse, to form a Lay
Th' incumbent Debt of Gratitude to pay?
The Muses Patron, and a Monarch's Pride;
And your bright Consort swells the shining Scenes,
A meet Companion to the best of Queens;
While, justly, both the Royal Favours share,
The Toils of Empire lessen'd by your Care:
6
In humble Solitude and rural Shade;
A Stranger to the Splendors of a Court,
Where Noble Lords and Princely Dames resort.
How shall I then, in so obscure a State,
Ah! with what Confidence address the Great?
Unskill'd in Converse, and in Schools untaught,
Artless my Words, and unrefin'd my Thought:
What Numbers shall I chuse, to form a Lay
Th' incumbent Debt of Gratitude to pay?
O happy Pope, blest with auspicious Fate!
On whom the Muses and the Graces wait,
Who never o'er the Silver Quill did bow,
But Floods of Harmony were sure to flow.
Would thy vast Genius lend me half its Fire,
And one short Hour my panting Breast inspire;
By just Degrees the stately Verse should grow,
And with strong Sense the strong Expression glow;
In one short Hour a lasting Fame I'd raise,
And Burlington should smile upon my Lays.
On whom the Muses and the Graces wait,
Who never o'er the Silver Quill did bow,
But Floods of Harmony were sure to flow.
Would thy vast Genius lend me half its Fire,
And one short Hour my panting Breast inspire;
7
And with strong Sense the strong Expression glow;
In one short Hour a lasting Fame I'd raise,
And Burlington should smile upon my Lays.
To me the tuneful Art did ne'er belong;
Why should I then protract an erring Song?
Yet when a British Peer has deign'd to shed
His gen'rous Favours on my worthless Head;
Silent shall I receive the welcome Boon?
No; 'tis a Crime to take and not to own.
Why should I then protract an erring Song?
Yet when a British Peer has deign'd to shed
His gen'rous Favours on my worthless Head;
Silent shall I receive the welcome Boon?
No; 'tis a Crime to take and not to own.
The Honour yet above the Gift I place,
When such high Names my humble Volume grace,
So much distinguish'd by the Voice of Fame,
That ev'ry Author would the Sanction claim.
When such high Names my humble Volume grace,
So much distinguish'd by the Voice of Fame,
That ev'ry Author would the Sanction claim.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |