gifts imparts;
We win your money, Ann, and you our hearts.
LINES
WRITTEN IN A FINE WINTER'S DAY,
_At the Shooting-Box of my Friend, W. Cope, Esq_.
NEAR ORPINGTON, KENT.
Tho' leafless are the woods, tho' flow'rs no more,
In beauty blushing, spread their fragrant store,
Yet still 'tis sweet to quit the crowded scene,
And rove with Nature, tho' no longer green;
For Winter bids her winds so softly blow,
That, cold and famine scorning, even now
The feather'd warblers still delight the ear,
And all of Summer, but her leaves, is here.
Here, on this winding garden's sloping bound,
'Tis sweet to listen to each rustic sound,
The distant dog-bark, and the rippling rill,
Or catch the sparkling of the water-mill.
The tranquil scene each tender feeling moves;
As the eye rests on Holwood's naked groves,
A tear bedims the sight for Chatham's son,
For him whose god-like eloquence could stun,
Like some vast cat'ract, Faction's clam'rous tongue,
Or by its sweetness charm, like Virgil's song,
For him, whose mighty spirit rous'd afar
Europe's plum'd legions to the hallow'd war;
But who, ah! hapless tale! could not inspire
Their recreant chiefs with his heroic fire;
Who, as _they_ pass'd the tyrant Conqu'ror's yoke,
Felt, as the bolt of Heav'n, the ruthless stroke;
And having long, in vain, the tempest brav'd,
Could breathe no longer in a world enslav'd.
LINES ON A LITTLE BIRD
_Singing at the Window of the Author_,
SOON AFTER THE DEATH OF A BELOVED SISTER.
Go, little flutt'rer! seek thy feather'd loves,
And leave a wretched mourner to his woe;
Seek out the bow'rs of bliss, seek happier groves,
Nor here unheeded let thy music flow.
Yet think me not ungrateful for thy song,
If meant to cheer me in my lone retreat;
Ah! not to thee, my little friend! belong
The pow'rs to soothe the pangs of adverse fate.
Fly, then! the window of the wretched, fly!
And be thy harmless life for ever blest;
I only can reward thee with a sigh,
And wish that joys may crown thy peaceful nest.
EPITAPH ON A FRIEND.
By painful sickness long severely prest,
Here sinks, on Nature's sacred lap of rest,
A friend, who, in a life too short, display'd
A mind in virtue bright, without one shade.
Hence with unusual grief is Fondness mov'd,
Hence more than Pity's sighs for one belov'd;
Unshaken Honour sheds a manly tear,
And weeping Virtue stops, a mourner here.
LINES
TO THE MEMORY OF AN AM
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