University of Virginia Library

DEDICATION OF AN ALBUM.

And is my humble lyre to be
The first that wakes a lay,
To dedicate a book to thee,
Designed for wit and poesy?
Dear lady I obey.
For like this fair unsullied leaf,
Was once thy infant mind;

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Save when alternate joy and grief
Flitted across, with stay so brief,
They left no trace behind.
But genius, wit, and taste refined,
With knowledge, science, art,
Saw the bright tablet of thy mind,
A spotless blank, and all combined
To fill so fair a chart.
And long, I trust, this volume will
Of thee an emblem prove;
While wit and taste its pages fill,
Be every precept they instil
Such as the virtuous love.