University of Virginia Library

COUPLETS & VERSICLES 1721–1730

I. Verses to Mrs. Judith Cowper.

Tho' sprightly Sappho force our love and praise,
A softer wonder my pleas'd soul surveys,
The mild Erinna, blushing in her bays.
So while the sun's broad beam yet strikes the sight,
All mild appears the moon's more sober light,
Serene, in virgin majesty, she shines;
And, un-observed, the glaring sun declines.

II. Lines to Bolingbroke .

What pleasing Phrensy steals away my Soul?
Thro' thy blest Shades (La Source) I seem to rove
I see thy fountains fall, thy waters roll
And breath the Zephyrs that refresh thy Grove
I hear whatever can delight inspire
Villete's soft Voice and St John's silver Lyre.

III. LINES In Conclusion of a Satire.

But what avails to lay down rules for sense?
In ---'s Reign these fruitless lines were writ,
When Ambrose Philips was preferr'd for Wit!

IV. Inscriptio.

And thou! whose sense, whose humour, and whose rage,
At once can teach, delight, and lash the age,
Whether thou choose Cervantes' serious air,
Or laugh and shake in Rab'lais' easy chair,
Praise courts, and monarchs, or extol mankind,
Or thy grieved country's copper chains unbind;
Attend whatever title please thine ear,
Dean, Drapier, Bickerstaff, or Gulliver.
From thy Bœotia, lo! the fog retires,
Yet grieve not thou at what our Isle acquires;
Here dulness reigns, with mighty wings outspread,
And brings the true Saturnian age of lead.

V. CANTICLE

All hail, arch-poet without peer!
Vine, bay, or cabbage fit to wear,
And worthy of the prince's ear.