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University of Virginia Library

Sketches in verse

with prose illustrations. By Mr. Polwhele. Second edition, with several additional pieces

Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

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SKETCHES, &c. &c.

SONNET TO MR. WHITAKER.

ODE TO A RED-BREAST.

LINES ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY.

TO A CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR, MUCH GIVEN TO PUNNING.

THE PILCHARD-SEINE:

LINES WRITTEN AT W--- LODGE IN DEVON, IN 1794.

THE VILLAGE. SUNDAY-EVE.

EXTEMPORE LINES TO MISS W---

LINES TO MISS T--- WITH A PRESENT OF A VOLUME OF POEMS.

THE WISHFUL SWAIN, OF DEVON.

EXTEMPORE LINES TO THE AUTHOR'S WIFE.

LINES READ TO THE MISS S---, &c. ON A WATER-PARTY FROM S---S.

THE TOMB OF ROUSSEAU.

TO A CLERGYMAN.

SONNET TO A TOAD.

SONNET TO AN ARTIST, EMPLOYED IN NEW-MODELLING THE PLEASURE-GROUNDS OF MY LORD ------

SONNET IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE TRAGEDY OF LILLO IN TOWN, When some middle-aged persons exclaimed, “It is too deep!”

TO THE EVENING-STAR.

TO A YOUNG OFFICER, TOO FOND OF HIS LITERARY STUDIES.

THE PASSIONATE LADY.

THE CAPRICIOUS BEAUTY.

TO JULIA, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE AUTHOR'S BREAKING HER FAN.

EXTEMPORE LINES ON A LADY'S LOSING HER EYELASHES BY AN EXPLOSION OF GUNPOWDER.

SONG. TO ANNA.

ODE TO BARON DE DUNSTANVILLE.

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92

SONG. TO ANNA.

See, Anna, see yon orb of light
Diffuse the genial beam:
All feel a vivifying heat,
Tho' none in the extreme.

But in a burning-glass collect
The widely-radiant fires,
And turn them on a mortal man:
In flames the wretch expires.

93

So, while the rays that light thine eyes,
Alike on all are thrown;
To all they give a gentle warmth,
A heat intense to none.

Yet, Anna, summon up thy charms,
Tho' fierce the effulgence be!
Yet—yet direct them to a point;
And find that point—in me.

This passage does not allude to the small burning-glasses in common use, but those surprizing ones said to have been employed by Archimedes at the siege of Syracuse—such as consumed whole fleets of the Romans with all the men on board them, in an almost incredibly-short space of time.