The Works of William Mason ... In Four Volumes |
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IX. | SONNET IX.
TO THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER,
SENT TO HIM WITH THE PRECEDING SONNET. |
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The Works of William Mason | ||
130
SONNET IX. TO THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER, SENT TO HIM WITH THE PRECEDING SONNET.
What! when the step of even-footed timeHas led me one and seventy years along,
Dare I attempt a second birth-day song,
And bid it tinkle in Petrarchian chime?
Shall I, impeded by the knots of rhyme,
Venture to shoot the warp of verse among
My blunted shuttle? Be it right or wrong,
I'll try, yet keep from pathos or sublime;
For Hurd, the critic of my youthful lay,
And yet Right Reverend Censor, cries “Forbear!
“Age should avoid, like Infancy, to play
“With pointed tools; a Sonnet once a year,
“Or so, my nod permits thee to essay.”
Duteous I bow, yet think the doom severe.
Aston, Feb. 23, 1796.
The Works of William Mason | ||