Through Sunbury's low vale the strains rebound,
Ev'n neighbouring Chertsey hears the chearful sound,
And, wondering, sees her Cowley's laurell'd shade
Transported listen to the tuneful maid.
O may those nymphs whose pleasing power she sings
Still o'er their suppliant wave their fostering wings!
O long may health, and soft-ey'd peace impart
Bloom to her cheek, and rapture to her heart!
Beneath her roof the redbreast shall prolong,
Un chill'd by frosts, his tributary song;
For her the lark shall wake the dappled morn,
And linnet twitter from the blossom'd thorn.
Sing on, sweet maid! thy Spenser smiles to see
Kind fancy shed her choicest gifts on thee,
And bids his Edwards, on the laurel spray
That shades his tomb, inscribe thy rural lay.
With lovely mien Eugenia now appears,
The muse's pupil from her tenderest years;
Improving tasks her peaceful hours beguile,
The sister arts on all her labours smile,
And while the nine their votary inspire,
"One dips the pencil, and one strings the lyre."-
O may her life's clear current smoothly glide,
Unruffled by misfortune's boistrous tide!
So while the charmer leads her blameless days
With that content which she so well displays,
Her own Honoriat we in her shall view,
And think her allegoric vision true.
*Miss Highmore, afterwards the wife of the author, +Allading to an unpublished Allegory, wherein the Pilgrims Fidelio and Honoria, after a fruitless search for the Palace of Happiness, are at last conducted to the House of Content.
Thus, wandering wild among the golden grain
That fruitful floats on Bansted's airy plain,
Careless I sung, while sunmer's western gale
Breath'd health and fragrance thro' the dusky vale,
When, from a neighbouring hawthorn, in whose shade
Conceal'd she lay, up rose the Aonian maid;
Pleas'd had she listen'd; and with smiles, she cry'd
"Cease, friendly swain, be this thy praise and pride,
That thou, of all the numerous tuneful throng,
First in our cause hast fram'd thy generous song.
"And ye, our sister choir! proceed to tread
The flowery paths of fame,- by science led!
Employ by turns the needle and the pen,
And in their favourite studies rival men!
May all our sex your glorious track pursue,
And keep your bright example still in view!
These lasting beauties will in youth engage,
And smooth the wrinkles of declining age,
Secure to bloom, unconscious of decay,
When all Corinna's roses fade away.
For ev❜n when love's short triumph shall be o'er,
When youth shall please, and beauty charm no more,
When man shall cease to flatter! when the eye
Shall cease to sparkle, and the heart to sigh,
In that dread hour when parent dust shall claim
The lifeless tribute of each kindred frame,
Ev'n then, shall wisdom, for her chosen fair,
The fragrant wreaths of virtuous fame prepare ;
Those wreaths which flourish in a happier clime,
Beyond the reach of envy and of time:
While here, th' immortalizing muse shall save
Your darling names from dark oblivion's grave;
Those names the praise and wonder shall engage
Of every polish'd, wise, and virtuous age;
To latest times our annals shall adorn,
And save from folly thousands yet unborn.”
SURRY TRIUMPHANT: OR THE KENTISH MEN'S DEFEAT.
A new Ballad; being a Parody on Chevy Chace.
"The greatest modern critics," says Mr. Addison, "have laid it down as a rule, that an heroic poem should be founded upon some important precept of morality, adapted to the constitution of the country in which the poet writes ;" and then proceeds to shew, that the plans of the Iliad, the Æneid, and Chevy-Chace, are "all formed in this view."* In humble imitation of those masters, the author of the following parody begs leave to observe, that he has a farther view than merely tracing the outline of a most beautiful original, and indulging an innocent pleasantry, which has strict truth for its foundation; it being his intention to convey, at the same time, a moral precept of no small importance to his country neighbours, which the reader may collect from several of the stanzas.
See the Spectator, Vol. 1, No, 70.
Extract from the Kentish Gazette, of Saturday, July 24, 1773.
The following is a List of the Noblemen and Gentlemen Cricketers who played on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday last, in Bourn Paddock ;* Surry against Kent, for two thousand pounds.
Those marked thus B were bowled out; c caught out.
Near Canterbury; the seat of Sir Horace Mann, Knight and
Or the Kentish Men's Defeat.
God prosper long our harvest-work,
Our rakes and hay-carts all!
An ill-tim'd cricket match there did
At Bishopsbourn befal.
To bat and bowl with might and main
Two nobles took their way;
The hay may rue, that is unhous'd,
The batting of that day.
The active Earl of Tankerville:
An even bet did make,
That in Bourn paddock he would cause
Kent's chiefest hands to quake,
To see the Surry cricketers
Out-bat them and out-bowl.
To Dorset's Duke the tidings came,
All in the park of Knowle;
Who sent his Lordship present word,
He would prevent his sport.
The Surry Earl, not fearing this,
Did to East Kent resort.
With ten more masters of the bat,
All chosen men of might,
Who knew full well, in time of need,
To aim or block aright.
* All the words in Italies are taken from the old Ballad of Chevy Chace.
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