40 Loft, and bewilder'd in despair, Hail thou, whofe verfe, a living image, fhines, We in that image bright Hillarius view! Let the low crowd, who love unwholesome fare, 50 When in thy words the breath of angels flows, Like grofs-fed fpirits, fick in purer air, Their earthy fouls by their dull taste disclose! Thy dazzling genius fhines too bright! And they, like spectres, fhun the ftreams of light. 55 And fhew thee glittering in abstracted day.' } TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE BESSY, COUNTESS OF ROCHFORD, DAUGHTER OF THE LATE EARL RIVERS, AS when the fun walks forth in flaming gold, Mean plants may finile, and humble flowers un fold, The low-laid lark the diftant æther wings, So, So, when thy charms 'celestial views create, Hail, Rivers! hallow'd fhade! defcend from reft! Defcend and fimile, to fee thy Rochford blest: Weep not the scenes through which my life muft run, 15 Though fate, fleet-footed, fcents thy languid fon. The bar that, darkening, cross'd my crested claim > Yields at her charms, and brightens in their flame : That blood which, honour'd, in thy Rochford reigns, In cold, unwilling wanderings trac'd my veins. Want's wintery realm froze hard around my view And scorn's keen blasts a cutting anguish blew. To fuch fad weight my gathering griefs were wrought,. Life feem'd not life, but when convuls'd with thought! Decreed beneath a mother's frown to pine, Madness were ease, to misery form'd like mine!· 25 Yet my Mufe waits thee through the realms of day, Where lambent lightnings round thy temples play. Sure my fierce woes will, like thofe fires, refine, Thus lofe their torture, and thus glorious shine! 30 And now the Mufe heavens milky path furveys, With thee, 'twixt pendent worlds, it wondering ftrays, Worlds which, unnumber'd as thy virtues, roll Round funs-fix'd, radiant emblems of thy foul! Hence Hence lights refracted run through distant skies, Now a new scene enormous lustre brings, 35 40 45 TO THE EXCELLENT M I IRA N D A, CONSORT OF AARON HILL, ESQ. ON READING HER POEMS. EACH foftening charm of Clio's fmiling fong, Montague's foul, which fhines divinely ffrong, Thefe blend, with graceful eafe, to form thy rhyme, Tender, yet chafte; fweet-founding, yet fublime; Wisdom and wit have made thy works their care, Each paffion glows, refin'd by precept, there: To fair Miranda's form each grace is kind; The Mufes and the Virtues tune thy mind. 5 VERSES ТО А YOUNG LADY. POLLY, from me, though now a love-fick youth, How would you praise me, fhould your fex defame! 5 10 You fcorn; yet fhould my paffion change, or fail, 15 Such, Polly, are your fex-part truth, part fiction, THE GENTLE A ADDRESSED то MAN. JOHN JOLIFFE, ESQ Decent mein, an elegance of dress, Words, which, at ease, each winning grace ex- A life, where love, by wisdom polish'd, shines, Knowledge of various life, of learning too; 10 Thence tafte; thence truth, which will from taste ensue: A fmile indulgent, and that smile fincere ; Give true delight, and gain unflattering praise, 15 20 CHARAC |