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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.

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Y the lyre of Apollo, the locks of the Muses,

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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
Thro' Highgate and Finchley, and Barnet I pafs'd:
At St. Alban's I din'd with a laughing gay crew,
Not complete was the fet without Tucker and you.
Where the Eighth of our Harries deferted his mate,
And procur'd a full fentence against his old Kate,
Our brifk company fupp'd, while our wine gave a fpring,
And tho' at the Crown, we ne'er thought of the King
The morrow fucceeding I got from my bed,
As a fheet all the roads were with fnows overfpread;
But the gods, who will never abandon a poet,
As oft has been faid, condescended to show it,
In a coach and fix horses the form I defy'd;
And, left by my friends, thro' the tempeft I ride.
Newport-Pannel receiv'd me, and gave me a dinner,
And a bed at Northampton was prefs'd by a finner:
No figns of fair weather, the Weft Chefter coach
At nine the next morning, a welcome approach,
Prefents fresh example; I travell'd all day,
At Crick eat my dinner, at Coventry lay;

I tremble whene'er I reflect on the roads
That lead to thofe dirty worm-eaten abodes,
Where a woman rode naked their taxes to clear,
And a taylor for peeping paid damnably dear;
For two parliaments fam'd, which intail a disgrace,
And have left their foul manners to poison the place.

* 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,
Had clear'd up th' expanfe, and array'd it in blue,
When I left the vile town, 'gainst which ever I'll rail,
While * Meriden offers no humble regale;

But near Mixal Park din'd at house of mean fame,
And at night to the † field of flain carcaffes came;
Tho' full old are thy tow'rs, yet receive my just praise,
May the ale be recorded, and live in my lays:
Thy Gothic cathedral new homage fill claims,
Nor refufe I thy due, tho' repair'd by king James I.
I forgot to advise you, the sky being clear,

'Twas at Coventry firft I afcended my chair,

But, alas, on the morrow, how dismal the fight!
For the day had affum'd all the horrors of night,
The clouds their gay vifage had chang'd to a frown,
And in a white mantle cloath'd Litchfield's old town;
But at noon all was o'er, when intrepid and bold
As a train-band commander, or Falstaff of old,
And proudly defying the wind and the fnow,
When the danger was pafs'd, I determin'd to go.
At Stone I repos'd, but at Oufley I din'd,

When our reck'ning was cheap and the landlord was kind
Next morning we fally'd, and Staffordshire loft;
But not ill entertain'd by a Ceftrian hoft.

On the banks of the Wever, at Namptwich, renown'd
For an excellent brine pit, our dinner we found;

* 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,
An an unctuous desert was serv'd up of old cheese ;
But as time will not tarry, our course we resume,
And * St. George's dragoons take their seats in our room :
So travelling onwards with pleasure we see
Old Caerleon so famous o’er looking the Dee;
Four days there we reited, and blithsome and gay
Forgot the bad weather we met on the way ;
Then old Chester, farewel, till I fee thcc again,
And can ftroll thro' thy streets t without dreading the rain,
May thy river I still swell, better pleas'd with his charge
Than when Edgar was row'd by eight kings in his barge;
Be the maidens all virtuous who drink of thy tide,
And each virgin in bloom be affianc'd a bride;
May the heart and the hand at the altar be join'd,
And no matron complain that a husband's unkind;
Let their bounty to ftrangers resound in each song,
Be § Barnstone their copy, they cannot go wrong.

O'er the cuts of the river our tract we pursue,
And old Flint in the prospect now rises to view ;
How ftrange to behold, here our language is fied,
To converse with these people's to talk to the dead;

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

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