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

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

In two volumes. With Decorations. The fourth edition

Shenstone, William (1714-1763)

VOL. I.

ELEGIES, WRITTEN ON Many different Occasions.

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---.

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.

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.

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.

The DYING KID.

SONGS, written chiefly between the Year 1737 and 1742.

SONG I.

II.

SONG II. The Landskip.

III.

SONG III.

IV.

SONG IV. The Sky-Lark.

SONG V.

VI.

SONG VI. The Attribute of Venus.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

SONG XIII. The Scholar's Relapse.

XIV.

SONG XIV. The Rose-Bud.

XV.

SONG XV.

XVI.

SONG XVI. Daphne's Visit.

XVII.

SONG XVII. Written in a Collection of Bacchanalian Songs.

XVIII.

SONG XVIII. Imitated from the French.

The HALCYON.

ODE.

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.

LEVITIES;

FLIRT and PHIL;

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

COLEMIRA.

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.

A BALLAD.

Slender's Ghost. vid. Shakespear.

The INVIDIOUS.

The Price of an EQUIPAGE.

Hint from VOITURE.

INSCRIPTION.

To a FRIEND.

The POET and the DUN. 1741.

Written at an Inn at Henley.

A SIMILE.

The Charms of Precedence.

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

EPILOGUE to the Tragedy of Cleone.

MORAL PIECES.

THE Judgment of HERCULES.

The Progress of TASTE.

OECONOMY, A RHAPSODY, addressed to young Poets.

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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Hail curious wights! to whom so fair
The form of mortal flies is!
Who deem those grubs beyond compare,
Which common sense despises.

Whether o'er hill, morass or mound,
You make your sportsman sallies;
Or that your prey in gardens found
Is urg'd thro' walks and allies,

205

Yet, in the fury of the chace,
No slope cou'd e'er retard you;
Blest if one fly repay the race,
Or painted wing reward you.

Fierce as Camilla o'er the plain
Pursu'd the glitt'ring stranger;
Still ey'd the purple's pleasing stain,
And knew not fear nor danger.

'Tis you dispense the fav'rite meat
To nature's filmy people;
Know what conserves they chuse to eat,
And what liqueurs, to tipple.

And, if her brood of insects dies,
You sage assistance lend her;
Can stoop to pimp for am'rous flies,
And help 'em to engender.

'Tis you protect their pregnant hour;
And when the birth's at hand,
Exerting your obstetric pow'r
Prevent a mothless land.

Yet oh! howe'er your tow'ring view
Above gross objects rises,
Whate'er refinements you pursue,
Hear, what a friend advises:

206

A friend, who, weigh'd with yours, must prize
Domitian's idle passion;
That wrought the death of teazing flies,
But ne'er their propagation.

Let Flavia's eyes more deeply warm,
Nor thus your hearts determine,
To slight dame nature's fairest form
And sigh for nature's vermin.

And speak with some respect of beaux,
Nor more as triflers treat 'em:
'Tis better learn to save one's cloaths,
Than cherish moths, that eat 'em.

See Virgil.

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