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University of Virginia Library

The works, in verse and prose, of William Shenstone, Esq

In two volumes. With Decorations. The fourth edition

Shenstone, William (1714-1763)

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I.

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ELEGIES, WRITTEN ON Many different Occasions.

I.

ELEGY I. He arrives at his retirement in the country, and takes occasion to expatiate in praise of simplicity.

II.

ELEGY II. On posthumous reputation.

III.

ELEGY III. On the untimely death of a certain learned acquaintance.

IV.

ELEGY IV. Ophelia's urn. To Mr. G---.

V.

ELEGY V. He compares the turbulence of love with the tranquillity of friendship.

VI.

ELEGY VI. To a lady on the language of birds.

VII.

ELEGY VII. He describes his vision to an acquaintance.

VIII.

ELEGY VIII. He describes his early love of poetry, and its consequences. To Mr. G---. 1745.

IX.

ELEGY IX. He describes his disinterestedness to a friend.

X.

ELEGY X. To fortune, suggesting his motive for repining at her dispensations.

XI.

ELEGY XI. He complains how soon the pleasing novelty of life is over.

XII.

ELEGY XII. His recantation.

XIII.

ELEGY XIII. To a friend, on some slight occasion estranged from him.

XIV.

ELEGY XIV. Declining an invitation to visit foreign countries, he takes occasion to intimate the advantages of his own.

XV.

ELEGY XV. In memory of a private family in Worcestershire.

XVI.

ELEGY XVI. He suggests the advantages of birth to a person of merit, and the folly of a superciliousness that is built upon that sole foundation.

XVII.

ELEGY XVII. He indulges the suggestions of spleen: an elegy to the winds.

XVIII.

ELEGY XVIII. He repeats the song of Collin, a discerning shepherd; lamenting the state of the woollen manufactury.

XIX.

ELEGY XIX. Written in spring 1743.

XX.

ELEGY XX. He compares his humble fortune with the distress of others; and his subjection to Delia, with the miserable servitude of an African slave.

XXI.

ELEGY XXI. Taking a view of the country from his retirement, he is led to meditate on the character of the ancient Britons. Written at the time of a rumoured tax upon luxury, 1746.

XXII.

ELEGY XXII. Written in the year --- when the rights of sepulture were so frequently violated.

XXIII.

ELEGY XXIII. Reflections suggested by his situation.

XXIV.

ELEGY XXIV. He takes occasion from the fate of Eleanor of Bretagne , to suggest the imperfect pleasures of a solitary life.

XXV.

ELEGY XXV. To Delia, with some flowers; complaining how much his benevolence suffers on account of his humble fortune.

XXVI.

ELEGY XXVI. Describing the sorrow of an ingenuous mind, on the melancholy event of a licentious amour.

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ODES, SONGS, BALLADS, &c.

RURAL ELEGANCE. An ODE to the late Dutchess of Somerset.

ODE to MEMORY. 1748.

The Princess ELIZABETH: A Ballad alluding to a story recorded of her, when she was prisoner at Woodstock, 1554.

ODE to a young LADY, Somewhat too solicitous about her manner of expression.

NANCY of the VALE.

ODE to INDOLENCE. 1750.

ODE to HEALTH. 1730.

To a LADY of QUALITY,

UPON A VISIT to the same in Winter. 1748.

AN Irregular ODE after Sickness. 1749.

Written in a Flower Book of my own Colouring, designed for Lady Plimouth. 1753–4.

AN ACREONTIC. 1738.

ODE. Written 1739.

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SONGS, written chiefly between the Year 1737 and 1742.

I.

II.

SONG II. The Landskip.

III.

IV.

SONG IV. The Sky-Lark.

V.

VI.

SONG VI. The Attribute of Venus.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

SONG XIII. The Scholar's Relapse.

XIV.

SONG XIV. The Rose-Bud.

XV.

XVI.

SONG XVI. Daphne's Visit.

XVII.

SONG XVII. Written in a Collection of Bacchanalian Songs.

XVIII.

SONG XVIII. Imitated from the French.

A PASTORAL ODE,

VERSES written towards the close of the Year 1748, to William Lyttelton, Esq

JEMMY DAWSON. A Ballad; written about the Time of his Execution, in the Year 1745.

A Pastoral BALLAD, in Four Parts.

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FLIRT and PHIL;

Stanzas to the Memory of an agreeable Lady, buried in Marriage to a Person undeserving her.

The Rape of the Trap.

On certain PASTORALS.

On Mr. C--- of Kidderminster's Poetry.

To the VIRTUOSOS.

The Extent of COOKERY.

The Progress of ADVICE.

Slender's Ghost. vid. Shakespear.

The Price of an EQUIPAGE.

Hint from VOITURE.

The POET and the DUN. 1741.

Written at an Inn at Henley.

The Charms of Precedence.

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ODE To be performed by Dr. Brettle, and a Chorus of Hales-owen Citizens.

AIR by the Doctor.

CHORUS of Citizens.

SOLO by the Doctor.

EPILOGUE to the Tragedy of Cleone.

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THE Judgment of HERCULES.

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The Progress of TASTE.

1.

PART the FIRST.

2.

PART the SECOND.

3.

PART the THIRD.

4.

PART the FOURTH.

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OECONOMY, A RHAPSODY, addressed to young Poets.

1.

PART the FIRST.

2.

PART the SECOND.

3.

PART the THIRD.

The Ruin'd ABBY;

LOVE and HONOUR.

The SCHOOL-MISTRESS.

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II.

VERSES TO Mr. SHENSTONE.

To William Shenstone, Esq; at the Leasowes.

VERSES received by the post, from a LADY unknown, 1761.

On the discovery of an echo at Edgbaston. By ---/---

VERSES by Mr. Dodsley, on his first arrival at the LEASOWES, 1754.

To Mr. R. D. on the Death of Mr. Shenstone.

VERSES written at the Gardens of William Shenstone, Esquire, near Birmingham, 1756.

To William Shenstone, Esq; in his Sickness.

VERSES left on a Seat, the Hand unknown.

CORYDON, A PASTORAL.

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45

ELEGY VIII. He describes his early love of poetry, and its consequences. To Mr. G---. 1745.

Ah me! what envious magic thins my fold?
What mutter'd spell retards their late increase?
Such less'ning fleeces must the swain behold,
That e'er with Doric pipe essays to please.

I saw my friends in ev'ning circles meet;
I took my vocal reed, and tun'd my lay;
I heard them say my vocal reed was sweet:
Ah fool! to credit what I heard them say!

Ill-fated bard! that seeks his skill to show,
Then courts the judgment of a friendly ear!
Not the poor veteran, that permits his foe
To guide his doubtful step, has more to fear.

Nor cou'd my G--- mistake the critic's laws,
'Till pious friendship mark'd the pleasing way:
Welcome such error! ever blest the cause!
Ev'n tho' it led me boundless leagues astray!

46

Couldst thou reprove me, when I nurs'd the flame
On list'ning Cherwell's osier banks reclin'd?
While foe to fortune, unseduc'd by fame,
I sooth'd the bias of a careless mind.

Youth's gentle kindred, health and love were met;
What tho' in Alma's guardian arms I play'd?
How shall the muse those vacant hours forget?
Or deem that bliss by solid cares repaid?

Thou know'st how transport thrills the tender breast,
Where love and fancy fix their op'ning reign;
How nature shines in livelier colours drest,
To bless their union, and to grace their train.

So first when Phoebus met the Cyprian queen,
And favour'd Rhodes beheld their passion crown'd,
Unusual flow'rs enrich'd the painted green;
And swift spontaneous roses blush'd around.

Now sadly lorn, from Twitnam's widow'd bow'r,
The drooping muses take their casual way;
And where they stop, a flood of tears they pour;
And where they weep, no more the fields are gay,

Where is the dappled pink, the sprightly rose?
The cowslip's golden cup no more I see:
Dark and discolour'd ev'ry flow'r that blows,
To form the garland, Elegy! for thee!—

47

Enough of tears has wept the virtuous dead;
Ah might we now the pious rage controul;
Hush'd be my grief ere ev'ry smile be fled,
Ere the deep swelling sigh subvert the soul!

If near some trophy spring a strippling bay,
Pleas'd we behold the graceful umbrage rise;
But soon too deep it works its baneful way,
And, low on earth, the prostrate ruin lies.

N. B. Written after the death of Mr. Pope.

Alludes to what is reported of the bay tree, that if it is planted too near the walls of an edifice, its roots will work their way underneath, till they destroy the foundation.