And destined all the treasure there MORAL. "Tis Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours: ODE TO APOLLO. ON AN INKGLASS ALMOST DRIED IN THE SUN PATRON of all those luckless brains, That, to the wrong side leaning, Indite much metre with much pains, And little or no meaning. Ah why, since oceans, rivers, streams Pay tribute to thy glorious beams, Why, stooping from the noon of day, Too covetous of drink, Apollo, hast thou stolen away Upborne into the viewless air, It floats a vapour now, Impell'd through regions dense and rare By all the winds that blow. Ordain'd perhaps ere summer flies, To form an iris in the skies, Illustrious drop! and happy then Phoebus, if such be thy design, To place it in thy bow, Give wit, that what is left With equal grace below. may shine A COMPARISON. THE lapse of time and rivers is the same, And a wide ocean swallows both at last. ANOTHER. ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY. SWEET stream, that winds through yonder Apt emblem of a virtuous maid Silent and chaste she steals along, Far from the world's gay busy throng; With gentle yet prevailing force, [glade, THE POET'S NEW YEAR'S GIFT. TO MRS. (NOW LADY) THROCKMORTON. MARIA! I have every good For thee wish'd many a time, Both sad, and in a cheerful mood, But never yet in rhyme. To wish thee fairer is no need, What favour then not yet possess'd In wedded love already blest, To thy whole heart's desire? None here is happy but in part: That wish, on some fair future day, ("Tis blameless, be it what it may) PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED. A FABLE. I SHALL not ask Jean Jaques Rousseau1 "Tis clear, that they were always able Must have a most uncommon skull. It chanced then on a winter's day, To forestall sweet St. Valentine, In many an orchard, copse, and grove, And with much twitter and much chatter Began to agitate the matter. At length a Bullfinch, who could boast 1 It was one of the whimsical speculations of this philo sopher, that all fables, which ascribe reason and speech to animals, should be withheld from children, as being only vehicles of deception. But what child was ever deceive by them, or can be, against the evidence of his senses? |