74
Epistles.
Plenteous of native wit, in letter'd ease,
Politely form'd: to profit and to please
To fame whate'er was due he gave to fame,
And what he could not praise forget to name:
Thus Eden's rose, without a thorn, display'd 55
Her bloom, and in a fragrant blush decay'd.
Such soul-attracting airs were sung of old,
When blissful years in golden circles roll'd:
Pure from deceit, devoid of fear and strife,
While love was all the pensive care of life, 60
The swains in green retreats, with flow'rets crown'd,
Taught the young groves their passion to resound:
Fancy pursu'd the paths where Beauty led,
To please the living or deplore the dead:
While to their warbled woe the rocks reply'd, 65
The rills remurmur'd, and the zephyrs sigh'd,
From death redeem'd by verse, the vanish'd fair
Breath'd in a flow'r, or sparkled in a star.
Bright as the stars, and fragrant as the flow'rs
Where Spring resides in soft Elysian bow'rs, 70
While these the bow'rs adorn, and they the sphere,
Will Sacharissa's charms in song appear.
Yet in the present age her radiant name
Must take a dimmer interval of fame;
When you to full meridian lustre rise, 75
With Morton's shape and Gloriana's eyes,
With Carlisle's wit, her gesture, and her mien,
And, like seraphic Rich, with zeal serene;
Politely form'd: to profit and to please
To fame whate'er was due he gave to fame,
And what he could not praise forget to name:
Thus Eden's rose, without a thorn, display'd 55
Her bloom, and in a fragrant blush decay'd.
Such soul-attracting airs were sung of old,
When blissful years in golden circles roll'd:
Pure from deceit, devoid of fear and strife,
While love was all the pensive care of life, 60
The swains in green retreats, with flow'rets crown'd,
Taught the young groves their passion to resound:
Fancy pursu'd the paths where Beauty led,
To please the living or deplore the dead:
While to their warbled woe the rocks reply'd, 65
The rills remurmur'd, and the zephyrs sigh'd,
From death redeem'd by verse, the vanish'd fair
Breath'd in a flow'r, or sparkled in a star.
Bright as the stars, and fragrant as the flow'rs
Where Spring resides in soft Elysian bow'rs, 70
While these the bow'rs adorn, and they the sphere,
Will Sacharissa's charms in song appear.
Yet in the present age her radiant name
Must take a dimmer interval of fame;
When you to full meridian lustre rise, 75
With Morton's shape and Gloriana's eyes,
With Carlisle's wit, her gesture, and her mien,
And, like seraphic Rich, with zeal serene;
