To APOLLO MAKING LOVE. FROM MONSIEUR FONTENELLE. BY THOMAS TICKELL, Esq. I AM, cry'd Apollo, when Daphne he woo’d, And panting for breath, the coy virgin pursu'd, When his wisdom, in manner most ample, exprest The long list of the graces his godship poffeft: I'm the god of sweet song, and inspirer of lays; Nor for lays, nor sweet song, the fair fugitive stays : I'm the god of the harp-stop, my.fairelt-in vain; Nor the harp, nor the harper, could fetch her again. Every plant, every flower, and their virtues I know, God of light I'm above, and of physic below: At the dreadful word physic, the nymph fled more fast ; At the fatal word physic, the doubled her haste. Thou fond god of wisdom, then alter thy phrase, Bid her view the young bloom, and thy ravishing rays, Tell her less of thy knowledge, and more of thy charms, And, my life for't, the damsel shall fly to thy arms. THE Y the lyre of Apollo, the locks of the Muses, And the pure lucid ftream Aganippe produces, My Ellis, I love thee, then pay me in kind, Let the thought of a friend never flip from your mind; So may fancy and judgment together combine, And the bofom be fill'd with an ardor divine; That thy brows may the laurel with juftice ftill claim, And the Temple of liberty mount thee to fame. If it e'er can give pleasure to know my career, When proud London I left with intentions fo queer, Accept it in verfe. On the very first day When the queen of warm paffions precedes the fair May, When, fo cuftom prescribes, and to follow old rules, One half of mankind makes the other half fools; From * From the town I first breath'd in, I fally'd in hafte I tremble whene'er I reflect on the roads * Dunstable. '+ Lady Godiva. ‡ A parliament was held here in the reign of Henry IV. called Parliamentum Indoctorum, another in Henry VI. called Diabolicum. Next Next morning the fun, with a face of red hue, But near Mixal Park din'd at house of mean fame, 'Twas at Coventry firft I afcended my chair, But, alas, on the morrow, how dismal the fight! When our reck'ning was cheap and the landlord was kind On the banks of the Wever, at Namptwich, renown'd * Meriden is famous for ale. + Campus Cadaverum was the ancient name for Litchfield, on account of a profecution there in the days of Dioclefian. King James II. The The wine was not bad, tho' the ale did displease, O'er the cuts of the river our tract we pursue, a a * General St. George's dragoons were marching up to London, and a party of them just came in when we were leaving it. + The streets of Chester have shops on each side covered over, which if not beautiful to the eye, at least preserve one from the rain. I People are now employed to make the river Dee navigable up to the town. § Robert Barnstone, Esq; who used me with the utmost hospitality And |