A Miscellany of Poems consisting of Original Poems, Translations, Pastorals in the Cumberland Dialect, Familiar Epistles, Fables, Songs, and Epigrams, by the late Reverend Josiah Relph ... With a Preface and a Glossary |
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An EPISTLE to Mr.---at Oxford.
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 | A Miscellany of Poems |  |
111
An EPISTLE to Mr.---at Oxford.
When country Beaus at some great Fair
Strut up the street with clumsy air,
What peals of laughter fill the shops,
Rais'd by more fashionable Fops:
So fares it with my rustic strain,
(Tho' prais'd by criticks of the plain)
When I rough Bard! to Oxford write,
The seat of Muses more polite;
But if my friend I pleasure you,
'Tis not a farthing matter how.
Strut up the street with clumsy air,
What peals of laughter fill the shops,
Rais'd by more fashionable Fops:
So fares it with my rustic strain,
(Tho' prais'd by criticks of the plain)
When I rough Bard! to Oxford write,
The seat of Muses more polite;
But if my friend I pleasure you,
'Tis not a farthing matter how.
Say, shall I draw some rural scene,
A shady grove, a verdant green,
Or show how sweet the Thrushes sing,
Or speak the bubling of a spring?
Or I shall tell (if you think meet)
How snug I live in this retreat:
How close I conjure ev'ry care,
Without a wish—I wish I were—
Ah me! 'tis all an empty boast,
There's one—I find it to my cost,
There's one rebellious wish in arms
In spite of verse and all it's charms.
A shady grove, a verdant green,
Or show how sweet the Thrushes sing,
Or speak the bubling of a spring?
112
How snug I live in this retreat:
How close I conjure ev'ry care,
Without a wish—I wish I were—
Ah me! 'tis all an empty boast,
There's one—I find it to my cost,
There's one rebellious wish in arms
In spite of verse and all it's charms.
Thrice happy, who by Isis stream
Enjoys the Muses—in a dream;
In classic grottoes melts away
In visions of poëtic day.
Oh wast me gentle gale of air!
Oh! quickly, quickly waft me there;
And place me underneath a shade
Where Addison and Tickel laid!
Nay tho' I'm pen'd in garret vile,
Tho' Duns be rapping all the while;
Ev'n tho' without (which still is worse)
One splendid shilling in my purse:
All this I willingly could bear,
'Tis nothing all—since thou art there.
Vade sed incultus---
Hei mihi quòd Domino non licet ire tuo.
Enjoys the Muses—in a dream;
In classic grottoes melts away
In visions of poëtic day.
Oh wast me gentle gale of air!
Oh! quickly, quickly waft me there;
And place me underneath a shade
Where Addison and Tickel laid!
Nay tho' I'm pen'd in garret vile,
Tho' Duns be rapping all the while;
113
One splendid shilling in my purse:
All this I willingly could bear,
'Tis nothing all—since thou art there.
Vade sed incultus---
Hei mihi quòd Domino non licet ire tuo.
| A Miscellany of Poems | |