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Poems

By Anthony Pasquin [i.e. John Williams]. Second Edition
  
  

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Miss FARREN.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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Miss FARREN.

See Farren approach, whom the Fates have design'd,
To fascinate hearts, and illumine mankind;
With myrtle-bound brows the gay nymph is advancing,
And rapt with her smiles the blithe kidlings are dancing;
As the Sylvans pour forth, in their May vestments dress'd,
Their flocks rove at will, and their cots are unbless'd;

37

Fond Zephyrs exhale, from the incense-fraught flowers,
The sweets of creation, to breathe on her hours!
Her port is seduction, her voice exiles pain,
And the mild social Virtues croud into her train;
They revel and sport 'neath her eyes benign beam,
Correct her warm fancy, and sweeten her dream;
Despair leaves his cave, by her beauties imprest;
And Joy wounds the fiend that had sicken'd his breast:
Young poets for her have relinquish'd the bays,
And Eloquence pants with recording her praise:
See Pride kiss her sandals, and Apathy sighs,
And Honor implores, and Inconstancy dies.
To copy her frame, where divinity's seal is,
Would beggar the talents of fam'd Praxiteles.
See Psyche amaz'd as she turns to behold
Such excellence cast in so perfect a mould;
She trembles in thought, lest the force of such charms,
The wanton young godling should tear from her arms.
Her form is celestial, she looks, Friend, between us,
A fourth lovely Grace, or the sister of Venus.
The mistress of Spring, or the handmaid of Flora,
To chear human-kind, like the rays of Aurora.
A simper bewitching irradiates each feature,
And the men all exclaim—What an angelic creature!

38

Such ease, such politeness, such wit unaffected,
A love-beaming eye, and that eye—well directed.
Bless'd orbs, where such infantine myriads are seen,
Disportively wanton in Love's magazine;
New pointing their arrows with sedulous pains,
To triumph o'er Reason, and lead her in chains.
Amid Beauty's children superior she shone,
And Cupid's artillery plays round her zone.
As the bee quits the groves of Arabia to sip,
The honey of Hybla which moistens her lip:
And Fame shews her Helen in dingy tradition,
And Hebe retreats to avoid competition.
Impell'd by Ambition, this nymph seiz'd the throne,
The birthright of Venus, but long since her own;
And her wiles she dispenses from that envied station,
For the gods have confirm'd the divine usurpation.
As an Actress, her powers to please are restricted,
Tho' Folly's gay offspring she's aptly depicted,
For she simpers with glee where the dialogue centers,
And smiles when she leaves us, and smiles when she enters;
A strong wish to amuse her best judgment beguiling,
Like a clown at a shew, she's continually smiling;
Tho' her fine set of teeth partial courtesy brings,
From ridiculous Earls, and illustrious Things;
As she nods from the stage to her Stanleys and Foxes,
To let the house see she is known in the boxes.
In Teazle, the springs of mild elegance move her,
But the sightless sweet Emmeline, that's her chef d'œuvre.