Poems on Several Occasions In Two Volumes. By Mr. Joseph Mitchell |
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 | I. |
| II. |
TO THE Right Honourable The Lord Viscount KILLMOREY. |
 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
75
TO THE Right Honourable The Lord Viscount KILLMOREY.
Killmorey, Chief of long ennobled Blood!
Young, and yet Wise! and, tho' a Gallant, Good!
Last, but not least of Patrons to a Bard,
Who never basely buckled for Reward;
Never to Fools or Knaves inglorious bow'd,
Flatter'd the Vulgar Great, nor coax'd the abject Crowd.
Young, and yet Wise! and, tho' a Gallant, Good!
Last, but not least of Patrons to a Bard,
Who never basely buckled for Reward;
Never to Fools or Knaves inglorious bow'd,
Flatter'd the Vulgar Great, nor coax'd the abject Crowd.
76
To such a Bard, distinguishably odd!
Permission grant to deviate from the Mode:
Let your lov'd Mitchell offer you his Lays,
Unstain'd by venal, prostituted, Praise.
He, highly favour'd, but presumes to bring
The Strains Your Self inspir'd his Muse to sing;
Thoughts on an humble Theme, in Verse unchim'd,
By your own Influence happily sublim'd!
So Phillips sung: Your Poet eyes his Muse,
As distant, He, great Milton's Track pursues!
No trivial Task to keep such Worth in View:
But great, indeed, to be indulg'd by You!
Whose Morn of Life, like other's Noon, appears!
Mature in Glory, while but green in Years!
Improve the Age's Wonder and Delight—
But can a human Mind be more divinely bright?
Permission grant to deviate from the Mode:
Let your lov'd Mitchell offer you his Lays,
Unstain'd by venal, prostituted, Praise.
He, highly favour'd, but presumes to bring
The Strains Your Self inspir'd his Muse to sing;
Thoughts on an humble Theme, in Verse unchim'd,
By your own Influence happily sublim'd!
So Phillips sung: Your Poet eyes his Muse,
As distant, He, great Milton's Track pursues!
No trivial Task to keep such Worth in View:
But great, indeed, to be indulg'd by You!
Whose Morn of Life, like other's Noon, appears!
Mature in Glory, while but green in Years!
Improve the Age's Wonder and Delight—
But can a human Mind be more divinely bright?
77
In vain, my Lord, in foreign Courts you roam—
You carried greater Excellence from Home.
In your Deportment, we behold, at once,
The boasted Charms of Italy and France.
Places and Things, unseen, you may explore;
But learn no Virtues strange to you before;
No nobler Manners, no politer Turn;
Nothing that more Killmorey can adorn!
O may your Life be Heaven's peculiar Care,
And, for Britannia's sake, her Hope and Glory spare!
But, doom'd to narrow Bounds, and humble State,
In vain your Poet tries to temper Fate:
Capricious Fortune down his Genius weighs,
And feeds his Muse with unsubstantial Praise,
Tho' Stair and Walpole promise better Days!
By Them, that fickle Goddess fix'd, may yet
Smile on his Labours, and enrich his Wit.
The Time approaches, I the Day foresee,
When Mitchell worth ten thousand Pounds shall be!
In Coach and Chariot, loll away his Cares!
Nor need a Cobler—but for Flanders Mares!
You carried greater Excellence from Home.
In your Deportment, we behold, at once,
The boasted Charms of Italy and France.
Places and Things, unseen, you may explore;
But learn no Virtues strange to you before;
No nobler Manners, no politer Turn;
Nothing that more Killmorey can adorn!
O may your Life be Heaven's peculiar Care,
And, for Britannia's sake, her Hope and Glory spare!
But, doom'd to narrow Bounds, and humble State,
In vain your Poet tries to temper Fate:
Capricious Fortune down his Genius weighs,
And feeds his Muse with unsubstantial Praise,
Tho' Stair and Walpole promise better Days!
78
Smile on his Labours, and enrich his Wit.
The Time approaches, I the Day foresee,
When Mitchell worth ten thousand Pounds shall be!
In Coach and Chariot, loll away his Cares!
Nor need a Cobler—but for Flanders Mares!
LONDON, May 1726.
Mitchell.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |