Pastorals Epistles Odes (1748)/To Miss Georgiana, youngest Daughter to Lord Carteret

by Ambrose Philips

 

To Miss Georgiana, youngest Daughter
to Lord Carteret.

August 10, 1725.

ITTLE charm of placid mien,
Miniature of beauty's queen,
Numbering years, a scanty nine,
Stealing hearts without design, 4
Young inveigler, fond in wiles,
Prone to mirth, profuse in smiles,
Yet a novice in disdain,
Pleasure giving without pain, 8
Still caressing, still caress'd,
Thou, and all thy lovers bless'd,
Never teiz'd, and never teizing,
O for ever pleas'd and pleasing! 12
Hither, British muse of mine,
Hither all the Grecian nine,
With the lovely graces three,
And your promis'd nurseling see: 16
Figure on her waxen mind
Images of life refin'd;
Make it, as a garden gay,
Every bud of thought display, 20
Till, improving year by year,
The whole culture shall appear,
Voice, and speech, and action, rising,
All to human sense surprising. 24
Is the silken web so thin
As the texture of her skin?
Can the lilly and the rose
Such unsully'd hue disclose? 28
Are the violets so blue
As her veins expos'd to view?
Do the stars, in wintry sky,
Twinkle brighter than her eye? 32
Has the morning lark a throat
Sounding sweeter than her note?
Whoe'er knew the like before thee?
They who knew the nymph that bore thee. 36

 From thy pastime and thy toys,
From thy harmless cares and joys,
Give me now a moment's time:
When thou shalt attain thy prime, 40
And thy bosom feel desire,
Love the likeness of thy fire,
One ordain'd, thro' life, to prove
Still thy glory, still thy love. 44
Like thy sister, and like thee,
Let thy nurtur'd daughters be:
Semblance of the fair who bore thee,
Trace the pattern set before thee. 48
Where the Liffy meets the main,
Has thy sister hear'd my strain:
From the Liffy to the Thames,
Minstrel echoes sing their names, 52
Wafting to the willing ear
Many a cadence sweet to hear,
Smooth as gently breathing gales
O'er the ocean and the vales, 56
While the vessel calmly glides
O'er the level glassy tides,
While the summer flowers are springing,
And the new fledg'd birds are singing.60