SONNET I.*

SENT TO A YOUNG LADY WITH DODSLEY'S

MISCELLANIES.

WHILE Age and Avarice, with malignant eye,
Forbid gay Hymen rob'd in saffron train,

With glitt❜ring torch to lead thee to the fane,
Where Love awaits to bind the nuptial tie;
To sooth thy cares a group of Muses fly,

Warbling from varied lyres a varied strain.
Verse has an opiate charm for am'rous pain,
And spells, like magic, lurk in minstrelsy.
With these conjoin'd accept this friendly lay,
Which truth inspires, and pure affection warms,
From Him, who saw thy infant bloom display
What now, in full maturity of charms,
Expands, to crown the long-expected day

That yields those beauties to a husband's arms.

NOTE.

* Written in the year 1748, and first printed in 1797.

SONNET II.*

PRESENTED TO A FRIEND ON THE MORNING OF HIS MARRIAGE.

No, thou resplendent Sun! thy orient ray

Shall not in silence to its height ascend;
Thou com'st, thus rob'd in lustre, to attend
On social BAGNAL † this auspicious day,
When Youth, Wealth, Innocence, and Beauty gay
Prepare to crown the virtues of my friend.
Patron of Light and Verse! thyself shall lend
A beam of inspiration to my lay,

Which, while it sings the merits of his mind
Where true Benevolence still active glows,

And native sense with sterling Science join'd, And Honour firm alike to words and vows,

Proclaims, that in her choice His Bride shall find Through life, the Friend, the Lover, and the Spouse.

* Written in London, 1752, and first printed 1797.
+ JOHN BAGNAL, Esq. then a student in the Temple.

46

SONNET III.

AUGUST, 1773.

An! why, cries Prudence," turn thy wayward feet "From scenes congenial to each spruce Divine ? "See, how they flutter round Preferment's shrine "With scarfe so rustling, and with band so neat! "Bless'd with such brethren and their converse sweet, "Like them politely pray, devoutly dine." Pardon me, Dame; for Competence benign (Heav'n-sent at last) now favours my retreat, Leads me to where Content sedately gay, Her favourite sister, my free step attends:

Hark! she repeats the Pontic exile's lay,* Bids me enjoy the boon, kind Fortune lends, Of Envy void, while Time slides soft away, And from my equals only cull my friends. }

NOTE.

* Vive sine invidiâ, mollesq; inglorius annos

Exigé, amicitias et tibi junge pares.

Ovid Trist. Lib. III. Eleg. IV. p. 42.

SONNET IV.

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND

THE BISHOP OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY,

PREFIXED TO THE DRAMATIC POEM OF CARACTACUS, WHEN
ALTERED FOR STAGE REPRESENTATION.

STILL let my HURD a smile of candour lend
To scenes, that dar'd on Grecian pinions tow'r,
When," in low Thurcaston's sequester'd bow'r,"*
He prais'd the strain, because he lov'd the friend:
There golden Leisure did his steps attend,

Nor had the rare, yet well-weigh'd, call of Power
To those high cares decreed his watchful hour,
On which fair Albion's future hopes depend.†
A fate unlook'd-for waits my friend and me;

He pays to Duty what was Learning's claim,
Resigning classic ease for dignity;

I yield my Muse to Fashion's praise or blame : Yet still our hearts in this great truth agree, That Peace alone is bliss, and Virtue fame.

Aston, Nov. 12, 1776.

NOTES.

* See the conclusion of the 3d Elegy, p. 108 of this Volume. + He was then Preceptor to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York.