O learned Friend of Abchurch-Lane,
Who fett'ft our entrails free;
Vain is thy Art, thy Powder vain,
Since Worms fhall eat ev'n thee.

Our Fate thou only can't adjourn
Some few short years, no more!
Ev'n Button's Wits to Worms fhall turn,
Who Maggots were before.

SONG, by a Perfon of Quality,

Written in the Year 1733.

I.

Lutt'ring fpread thy purple Pinions,
Gentle Cupid, o'er my Heart;

FL

I a Slave in thy Dominions;
Nature must give Way to Art.

II.

Mild Arcadians, ever blooming,
Nightly nodding o'er your Flocks,

See my weary Days confuming,
All beneath yon flow'ry Rocks.

III.

Thus the Cyprian Goddess weeping,
Mourn'd Adonis, darling Youth:
Him the Boar in Silence creeping,
Gor'd with unrelenting Tooth.

IV.

Cynthia, tune harmonious Numbers; Fair Difcretion, ftring the Lyre; Sooth my ever-waking Slumbers: Bright Apollo, lend thy Choir.

V.

Gloomy Pluto, King of Terrors,
Arm'd in adamantine Chains,
Lead me to the Crystal Mirrors,
Wat'ring foft Elyfian Plains.

VI.

Mournful Cyprefs, verdant Willow, Gilding my Aurelia's Brows, Morpheus hov'ring o'er my Pillow, Hear me pay my dying Vows.

VII.

Melancholy smooth Meander,

Swiftly purling in a Round, On thy Margin Lovers wander, With thy flow'ry Chaplets crown'd,

Thus when Philomela drooping,
Softly feeks her filent Mate,
See the Bird of Juno stooping;
Melody refigns to Fate,

On a Certain LADY at Court.

I

Know the thing that's most uncommon ;
(Envy be filent, and attend!)

I know a reasonable Woman,

Handfome and witty, yet a Friend.

Nor warp'd by Paffion, aw'd by Rumour,
Not grave thro' Pride, nor gay thro' Folly,
An equal Mixture of good Humour,
And fenfible foft Melancholy.

"Has the no faults then (Envy fays) Sir ?"
Yes, fhe has one, I must aver:
When all the World confpires to praise her,
The Woman's deaf, and does not hear.

On his GROTTO at Twickenham,

COMPOSED OF

Marbles, Spars, Gemms, Ores, and Minerals.

THOU

HOU who fhalt ftop, where Thames' tranf-
lucent wave

Shines a broad Mirrour thro' the fhadowy Cave;
Where ling'ring drops from min'ral Roofs diftill,
And pointed Crystals break the sparkling Rill,
Unpolish'd Gemms no Ray on Pride bestow,
And latent Metals innocently glow:

VARIATIONS.

After v. 6. in the MS.

You see that Island's wealth, where, only free,
Earth to her entrails feels not Tyranny.

5

i. e. Britain is the only place on the globe which feels not Tyranny even to its very entrails. Alluding to the condemnation of Criminals to the Mines, one of the inflictions of civil juftice in most Countries. The thought was exceeding natural and proper in this place, where the Poet was describing a Grotto incrusted and adorned with all sorts of Minerals collected, by the means of commerce, from the four quarters of the Globe. NOTES.

On bis Grotto] The improving and finishing his Grotto was the favourite amusement of his declining Years; and the beauty of his poetic genius, in the disposition and ornaments of this romantic receís,, appears to as much advantage as in his best contrived Poems.

9

Approach. Great NATURE ftudiously behold!
And eye the Mine without a wish for Gold.
Approach but awful! Lo! th' Egerian Grott,
Where, nobly penfive, St. JOHN fate and thought;
Where, British fighs from dying WYNDHAM flole,
And the bright flame was shot thro' MARCHMONT'S

Soul.

Let fuch, fuch only, tread this facred Floor,
Who dare to love their Country, and be poor.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 11. Where British fighs from dying Wyndham ftole,] In. his MS. it was thus,

To Wyndham's breast the patriot paffions stole,

which made the whole allude to a certain Anecdote of not much confequence to any but the parties concerned.

NOTES.

VER. 9. Egerian Grott] Alluding to Numa's projecting his fyftem of Politics in this Grott, affifted, as he gave out, by the Goddess Ægeria.

ΤΟ

Mrs. M. B. on her BIRTH-DAY.

H be thou bleft with all that Heav'n can fend,

Long Health, long Youth, long Pleasure, and

a Friend:

Not with those Toys the female world admire,
Riches that vex, and Vanities that tire.