 | Poems on several occasions |  |
535
TO THE HONOURABLE THE LADY MARY HAY. 1731.
This small acknowledgment be paid;
Let me discharge my debt in metre.
Must it be sung as well as said?
Let Lady Mary make it sweeter.
Let me discharge my debt in metre.
Must it be sung as well as said?
Let Lady Mary make it sweeter.
I leave fine speeches till eighteen,
When warmer love may pay its duty:
In fairest light may then be seen
The Wit, the Virtue, and the Beauty.
When warmer love may pay its duty:
In fairest light may then be seen
The Wit, the Virtue, and the Beauty.
Meanwhile she's innocent and gay,
Nor smallest scandal rests upon her:
Far more than man on earth can say
For Carolina's maids of honour.
Nor smallest scandal rests upon her:
Far more than man on earth can say
For Carolina's maids of honour.
Though her own hand the letter writ,
Our years will from suspicion save her;
And me from arrogance acquit,
Though hourly boasting of the favour.
Our years will from suspicion save her;
And me from arrogance acquit,
Though hourly boasting of the favour.
536
No slander can our conduct stain:
Indeed the case might something vary,
If twenty years from me were ta'en,
And ten were put to Lady Mary.
Indeed the case might something vary,
If twenty years from me were ta'en,
And ten were put to Lady Mary.
| Poems on several occasions | |