A Miscellany of Poems consisting of Original Poems, Translations, Pastorals in the Cumberland Dialect, Familiar Epistles, Fables, Songs, and Epigrams, by the late Reverend Josiah Relph ... With a Preface and a Glossary |
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The POET's PETITION.
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 | A Miscellany of Poems |  |
The POET's PETITION.
I.
If Phœbus his Poët's petition wou'd crown,I'd ask a retreat in a snug country town,
Near which a clear stream in a valley shou'd glide,
With fountains and meadows and groves by it's side:
And then my ambition no farther shou'd stray,
But to better my life, and to better my lay,
To Virtue's improvement and Vice's decay.
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II.
A competent fortune shou'd be my next call,Too great for contempt, and for envy too small:
I wou'd work not for need, but my fancy to please
With various enjoyment of labour and ease.
And then my &c.
III.
A friend of like temper and honesty try'd,Shou'd double my joys, and my sorrows divide:
But far from my cottage let beauty remove,
Nor poyson my innocent pleasures with love.
And then my &c.
IV.
At town I or seldom or never wou'd come,Unless when no subject of satyr's at home,
Or (since sweetest pleasures the soonest will cloy)
To give a new relish to surfeiting joy.
And then &c.
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V.
And when those dear blessings no more shall be mine,Not weary with life, nor yet loth to resign,
In death I wou'd gently dissolve as in rest,
And this Epitaph shou'd be wrote on each breast.
The Poët's ambition no farther did stray,
But to better his life and to better his lay
To Virtue's improvement and Vice's decay.
| A Miscellany of Poems | |