University of Virginia Library

To the Author, on his Collection of Miscellany Poems.

I have, my Friend, your poems all perus'd,
And, with attention on the same have mus'd.
Do you incline my sentiments that I
Should thereanent express impartially?
If so, to please you, them I'll here rehearse
Ingenuously, tho' in rude dogrel verse.
Beauties and faults do both in them appear;
Many the first, the last but few and rare:
But, taken in the complex, I avow,
They're excellent, and must give you your due;
Your pregnant fancy tow'reth far above
That sphere in which mean rhyming scriblers move;
Your stile's polite, refin'd and elegant,
Surpassing far their silly vulgar cant.
And (which the highest praises doth deserve,)
You your decorum handsomely observe.
I see Melpomene with grief distress'd,
All bath'd in tears, with sighs and groans oppress'd;
While in sad lays you mournfully deplore
Th'unhappy fate of good and great Strathmore.
Or when Monorgan's much lamented death,
She seems to swoon, and pant for lack of breath,
In sorrow plung'd, in sable vesture clad,
Doth droop and languish, mourning for the dead.
But then, Thalia, in your past'ral song,
Looks brisk and gay amidst the Sylvan throng.
Bright chearful joy shines in her countenance,
While you in softest numbers do advance
Agatha's charms, smiles, beauties of that fair,
And nuptial blessings of the happy pair.
When Erato takes a sublimer theme,
To raise on pillars of immortal fame,
A noble Hero of great Douglas' name,
Then, in heroic and majestic strains,
She soars aloft, and leaves the rural plains.
Thus with your matter doth your Muse comply,
The greatest art, methinks, in poetry.
O had that nat'ral genius of thine,
Brisk wit, rich Fancy, which in you combine,
Been polished by lib'ral education,
You might have prov'd an honour to our nation.
Great Tully's verdict is, without demur,
Confirm'd in you, POETÆ NASCIMUR.