TO STELLA.
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ot the soft sighs of vernal gales,The fragrance of the flow'ry vales,The murmurs of the crystal rill,The vocal grove, the verdant hill;Not all their charms, though all unite,Can touch my bosom with delight. Not all the gems on India's shore,Not all Peru's unbounded store,Not all the power, nor all the fame,That heroes, kings, or poets claim;Nor knowledge, which the learn'd approve;To form one wish my soul can move. Yet nature's charms allure my eyes,And knowledge, wealth, and fame I prize;Fame, wealth, and knowledge I obtain,Nor seek I nature's charms in vain;In lovely Stella all combine;And, lovely Stella! thou art mine. VERSES,WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF A GENTLEMAN, TO WHOM A LADY HAD GIVEN A SPRIGOF MYRTLE [a]. What hopes, what terrours, does thy gift create!Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate!The myrtle (ensign of supreme command,Consign'd by Venus to Melissa's hand)Not less capricious than a reigning fair,Oft favours, oft rejects, a lover's pray'r.In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain.The myrtle crowns the happy lovers' heads,Th' unhappy lovers' graves the myrtle spreads.Oh! then, the meaning of thy gift impart,And ease the throbbings of an anxious heart.Soon must this bough, as you shall fix its doom,Adorn Philander's head, or grace his tomb. [a] These verses were first printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for1768, p. 439, but were written many years earlier. Elegant as theyare, Dr. Johnson assured me, they were composed in the short spaceof five minutes.--N. TO LADY FIREBRACE[a].AT BURY ASSIZES. At length, must Suffolk beauties shine in vain,So long renown'd in B--n's deathless strain?Thy charms, at least, fair Firebrace, might inspireSome zealous bard to wake the sleeping lyre;For, such thy beauteous mind and lovely face,Thou seem'st at once, bright nymph, a muse and grace. [a] This lady was Bridget, third daughter of Philip Bacon, esq. ofIpswich, and relict of Philip Evers, esq. of that town. She becamethe second wife of sir Cordell Firebrace, the last baronet of thatname, to whom she brought a fortune of 25,000 pounds, July 26, 1737.Being again left a widow, in 1759, she was a third time married,April 7, 1762, to William Campbell, esq. uncle to the late duke ofArgyle, and died July 3, 1782. TO LYCE,AN ELDERLY LADY. Ye nymphs, whom starry rays invest,By flatt'ring poets given;Who shine, by lavish lovers drest,In all the pomp of heaven; Engross not all the beams on high,Which gild a lover's lays;But, as your sister of the sky,Let Lyce share the praise. Her silver locks display the moon,Her brows a cloudy show,Strip'd rainbows round her eyes are seen,And show'rs from either flow. Her teeth the night with darkness dies,She's starr'd with pimples o'er;Her tongue, like nimble lightning, plies,And can with thunder roar. But some Zelinda, while I sing,Denies my Lyce shines;And all the pens of Cupid's wingAttack my gentle lines. Yet, spite of fair Zelinda's eye,And all her bards express,My Lyce makes as good a sky,And I but flatter less.
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