 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
Upon the same Subject;
by a Boy of Fifteen, at Westminster-School.
In happy Days was Sacharissa's Reign,
When Beauty shone, and did not shine in vain:
The Sons of Art could all her Charms express,
And rival Nature in the fairest Dress.
Vandyke and Waller, warm'd with equal Fire,
Touch'd the soft Canvas, and the softer Lyre;
And the fair Nymph defies the Pow'r of Time
In living Colours, and immortal Rhyme.
When Beauty shone, and did not shine in vain:
The Sons of Art could all her Charms express,
And rival Nature in the fairest Dress.
Vandyke and Waller, warm'd with equal Fire,
Touch'd the soft Canvas, and the softer Lyre;
And the fair Nymph defies the Pow'r of Time
In living Colours, and immortal Rhyme.
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At Althrop now we see a brighter Flame,
And Sacharissa stoops to Churchill's Fame.
But where's the skilful Hand that can present
Her matchless Form in Numbers, or in Paint?
Arts that are rais'd and cherish'd by the Fair,
By too great Excellence oppress'd, despair;
While meaner Faces triumph over Fate,
Superior Beauty has a shorter Date.
Yet happy Churchill, that she can't live long
In Kneller's Oil, or Hallifax's Song.
And Sacharissa stoops to Churchill's Fame.
But where's the skilful Hand that can present
Her matchless Form in Numbers, or in Paint?
Arts that are rais'd and cherish'd by the Fair,
By too great Excellence oppress'd, despair;
While meaner Faces triumph over Fate,
Superior Beauty has a shorter Date.
Yet happy Churchill, that she can't live long
In Kneller's Oil, or Hallifax's Song.
| Poems on Affairs of State | |