vii

It seem'd, alone its beauty:-to and fro,
The wild-rose shadows by the Summer's breath
Were moving;-from the gnarled boughs above
The ring-dove pour'd its amorous plaint, and there
No more on man dependent, 'mid the leaves,
The red-breast built its Summer nest secure.

'Fit spot,' I cried, 'for Grecian bard to feign
Panisk, or fawn, amid the noonday heat
Reposing, or a band of paranymphs,
Such is the poet's high record, at eve
Discoursing in their soft Helladian tongue.
Or here, perchance, the silver-footed fays,
Tripping to moonlight minstrelsy, might start
The aged shepherd hastening down the glen.'-
Thou in this sylvan bower, 'mid tufted moss
And wrinkled fern, with colour'd weeds commix'd,
And glossy leaves of velvet texture, laid,
With hazel, and with hawthorn blossoms hung,
Like to a Tuscan lady in her bloom
Of richest beauty, as by Arno's vale,
Or where his shaded waters Arbia spreads,
Stepping from forth her princely halls, to taste
The breeze, entranc'd I've seen-thou, there re-
Or as some gentle Dryad, who at eve

[clin'd;

Just stealing from her timid covert, hears Young Zephyr breathe his vow.-The day was

clos'd;

The morning's roseate glow-The golden blaze Meridian, and the eve's purpureal sky.

viii

Oh day! as innocent, as fair!—and thou,
Fair as the day, and young and innocent,
Sweet maiden; thou not seldom to thine eye
(As oft again on these retiring sands

Thy evening footsteps shall be seen) wilt call
'Mid blushing smiles, and sunny tears, that speak
Of fond remembrance, all that memory holds
Of this sweet pilgrimage :-the winding shore,
The soft enamell'd margin-the long sweep
Of those majestic woods, which o'er the wave
Flung deep their emerald shadows,-the far hills;
The grey rock, with its blue springs trickling down
Through thick concealing foliage;-and the vale,
The long withdrawing vale, where Deben winds
His solitary wave from shore to shore,

To where the fountains of the Ocean lie.

J. M.

BENHALL,

20th September, 1835.

CONTENTS.

VOL. I.

Page

i

LIFE OF MATTHEW PRIOR. By the Rev. J. Mitford.....

Dedication; To the Right Honourable Lionel, Earl of

Dorset and Middlesex........

Preface....

On Exod. iii. 14-"I am that I am."-An Ode, writ-

ten in 1688, as an Exercise at St. John's College,

Cambridge..

8

19

To the Countess of Exeter, playing on the Lute....

Picture of Seneca dying in a Bath. By Jordain.

At

the Earl of Exeter's, Burleigh House.....

An Ode, "While blooming youth and gay delight".

An Epistle to Fleetwood Shepherd, Esq......

To the Countess of Dorset, written in her Milton, by

Mr. Bradbury....

40

To my Lord Buckhurst. Very young, playing with a

Cat.

....

41

An Ode, "While from our looks, fair nymph, you

A Song, "In vain you tell your parting lover".

The despairing Shepherd......

To the Honourable Charles Montague...

Hymn to the Sun. Set by Dr. Purcell.

And intended

to be sung before their Majesties on New-year's day,

1693-4.....

49

The Lady's Looking-glass. In imitation of a Greek

Idyllium.....

52

Page

Love and Friendship.

beth Singer.....

A pastoral. By Mrs. Eliza-

To the Author of the foregoing Pastoral..

To a Lady: she refusing to continue a dispute with me,

and leaving me in the Argument. An Ode.....

Seeing the Duke of Ormond's Picture at Sir Godfrey

Kneller's......

Celia to Damon....

.........

An Ode presented to the King, on his Majesty's Arri-

val in Holland, after the Queen's Death, 1695........

In imitation of Anacreon......

.....

An Ode, "The merchant, to secure his treasure ".

Ode sur la prise de Namur, par les Armes du Roy,

l'année 1692, par Monsieur Boileau Despreaux......

An English Ballad on the taking of Namur by the King

of Great Britain, 1695.

Presented to the King at his Arrival in Holland, after

the Discovery of the Conspiracy, 1696...

To Cloe weeping.

To Mr. Howard. An Ode.

Love Disarmed...................

Cloe Hunting.

Cupid and Ganymede.

Cupid mistaken....

Venus mistaken.

A Song, "If wine and music have the power

The Lady who offers her Looking-glass to Venus.

117

Cloe Jealous....

117

Answer to Cloe Jealous, in the same style, the Author

sick.....

119

The Dove....

A Lover's Anger.

Mercury and Cupid....

On Beauty. A Riddle.

The Question, to Lisetta.

Lisetta's Reply..

.......

Page

A better Answer.

120

Pallas and Venus. An Epigram..

121

To a young Gentleman in Love. A Tale..

122

Paulo Purganti and his Wife: an honest, but a simple

Pair.....

134

The Ladle...

140

Written at Paris, 1700. In the beginning of Robe's

Geography.

146

....

Written in the beginning of Mezeray's History of

France.......

147

Written in the Nouveaux Interets des Princes de l'Eu-

rope..

148

Adriani morientis ad animam suam..

149

A passage in the Moria Encomium of Erasmus imita-

ted.....

To Dr. Sherlock, on his Practical Discourse concerning

Death..

Carmen Seculare, for the year 1700.....

An Ode, inscribed to the Memory of the Honourable

Colonel George Villiers......

Prologue, spoken at Court before the Queen, on her

Majesty's Birthday, 1704.....

A Letter to Monsieur Boileau Despreaux, occasioned by

the Victory at Blenheim, 1704...

Epigram, "Frank carves very ill, yet will palm all the

meats 99

Another, "To John I ow'd great obligation'

193

194

194

196

196

196