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University of Virginia Library

A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes

Dodsley, Robert (1703-1764)

I.

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II.

THE PROGRESS of LOVE. IN Four ECLOGUES.

SOLILOQUY Of a BEAUTY in the Country.

TO THE Reverend Dr. AYSCOUGH at Oxford.

To Mr. POYNTZ, Ambassador at the Congress of Soissons, in the Year 1728.

VERSES to be written under a Picture of Mr. POYNTZ.

An Epistle to Mr. POPE.

To my Lord --- In the Year 1730.

ADVICE to a LADY.

DAMON and DELIA. In Imitation of Horace and Lydia.

ODE, in Imitation of Pastor Fido.

Part of an Elegy of Tibullus, translated.

Written at Mr. Pope's House at Twickenham, which he had lent to Mrs. G---lle.

To Mr. West at Wickham.

To Miss LUCY F---

To the Same, with Hammond's Elegies.

A Prayer to Venus in her Temple at Stowe. To the Same.

To the Same. On her pleading want of Time.

To the same with a New Watch.

An Irregular ODE written at Wickham, in 1746. To the Same.

To the Memory of the same LADY, A MONODY. A. D. 1747.

VERSES Making Part of an EPITAPH on the same LADY.

ON THE ABUSE of TRAVELLING.

THE INSTITUTION OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

An Epistle to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Cornbury.

An EPISTLE to a LADY.

An EPISTLE to Mr. POPE.

EPISTLE to POLLIO, from the Hills of Howth in Ireland.

An ODE to William Pultney, Esq;

An Ode to the Right Honourable the Lord Lonsdale.

An ODE to MANKIND.

VERSES to Camilla.

An INSCRIPTION on the Tomb, Raised to the memory of the author's father, and of others his ancestors.

The Danger of Writing Verse.

To the Honourable ---

To Mr. GARRICK.

NATURE to Dr. HOADLY.

The Youth and the Philosopher. A FABLE.

An ODE to a Gentleman, On his pitching a Tent in his Garden.

On a Message-Card in Verse. Sent by a LADY.

The Je ne scai Quoi. A SONG.

An ODE On a distant Prospect of ETON COLLEGE.

ODE on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes.

A MONODY On the Death of Queen CAROLINE.

A PIPE of TOBACCO: In Imitation of Six Several Authors.

ODE to the Hon. C. Y.

From CÆLIA to CLOE.

ON A FIT of the GOUT.

Horace, Ode 14. Book I. imitated in 1746.

The Female Right to Literature, in a Letter to a young Lady from Florence.

On Shakespear's Monument at Stratford upon Avon.

The INDIFFERENT.

The Triumph of INDIFFERENCE.

The Shepherd's Farewel to his Love.

Audivere, Lyce, &c. Hor. Book 4. Ode 13. Imitated.

A SONNET. Imitated from the Spanish of Lopez de Vega. Menagiana tom. iv. p. 176.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

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Audivere, Lyce, &c. Hor. Book 4. Ode 13. Imitated.

By the Same.

Lyce, at length my vows are heard,
My vows so oft to heaven preferr'd;
Welcome, thy silver'd hairs!
In vain thy affectation gay
To hide the manifest decay,
In vain thy youthful airs.

319

If still thy cheeks preserve a blush,
With heat of wine, not youth they flush,
Unamiable stain!
If still thou warblest, harsh the note
When trembling age shakes in the throat
Th'involuntary strain.

Think'st thou can these my love prolong?
(Ungrateful blush! untuneful song!)
Or rival Hebe's charms?
Hebe melodious, Hebe fair,
For judgment swells her rapt'rous air,
For youth her blushes warms.

The rosy cheek, the forehead smooth,
Those native ornaments of youth,
Once lost, are lost for aye.
No art can smooth, no paint repair
The furrow'd face; no diamond's glare
Give lustre to decay.

320

What now of all which once was thine,
Feature, Complexion, Mien divine,
Remains the sense to charm?
Why now command they not my love?
Once could they—even tho' Cloe strove
Their empire to disarm.

Cloe!—alas, thou much-lov'd name!
Thou, full of beauty, full of fame,
Found'st an untimely urn!
Whilst Lyce, reft of every grace
T'enrich th'mind, t'adorn the face,
Still lives, the public scorn.

The contemptuous satire at the conclusion of the original, is preserved in the English, but a graver turn is given to it, instead of the more ludicrous one of Horace. Whether judiciously or no, may be better determined by any body, than by the author.