Thy other fonnets in each stanza fhew
What, when of love you think, thy muse can do ;
So movingly thou 'ft made the am'rous swain
Wish on the moor his lafs to meet again,
That I, methinks, find an unusual pain.
Nor haft thou, cheerful bard, exprest less skill,
When the brisk lafs you fang of Patie's mill;
Or Sufy, whom the lad with yellow hair
Thou 'ft made, in soft and pleasing notes, prefer
To nymphs lefs handsome, conftant, gay, and fair.
In lovely strains kind Nancy you address, And make fond Willy his coy Jean poffefs; Which done, thou 'ft bleft the lad in Nelly's arms, Who long had absent been 'midst dire alarms; And artfully you 've plac'd within the
Jamie, to hear his mistress own her love.
A gentle cure you 've found for Strephon's breast,
By scornful Betty long depriv'd of rest :
And when the blissful pairs you thus have crown'd, You'd have the glass go merrily around,
To shake off care, and render fleep more found.
Who e'er shall see, or hath already feen, Those bonny lines call'd "Christ's Kirk on the
Muft own that thou haft, to thy lasting praise,
Deferv'd, as well as royal James, the bays:
'Mong other things, you 've painted to the life
A fot unactive lying by his wife,
Which oft 'twixt wedded folks makes woful ftrife.
When 'gainst the scribbling knaves your pen you drew,
How didft thou lafh the vile prefumptuous crew!
Not much fam'd Butler, who had gone before,
E'er ridicul'd his knight or Ralpho more;
So well thou 'ft done it, equal smart they feel
As if thou 'd pierc'd their hearts with killing steel.
They thus fubdu'd, you in pathetic rhyme
A subject undertook that's more fublime;
By noble thoughts, and words difcreetly join'd,
Thou 'st taught me how I may contentment find.
And when to Addie's fame you touch the lyre,
Thou fang'ft like one of the seraphic choir
So fmoothly flow thy natʼral rural strains,
So fweetly too you 've made the mournful fwains
His death lament, what mortal can forbear
Shedding, like us, upon his tomb a tear?
Go on, fam❜d bard, thou wonder of our days, And crown thy head with never-fading bays; While grateful Britons do thy lines revere, And value, as they ought, their Virgil here.
As once I view'd a rural scene,
With fummer's sweet profufely wild,
Such pleasure footh'd my giddy fense,
I ravish'd stood, while nature fmil'd.
Straight I refolv'd, and chose a field
Where all the spring I might transfer There stood the trees in equal rows, Here Flora's pride in one parterre.
The task was done, the fweets were fled,
Each plant had loft its sprightly air,
As if they grudg'd to be confin'd,
Or to their will not matched were.
The narrow scene difpleas'd my mind,
Which daily ftill more homely grew;
At length I fled the loathed fight,
And hied me to the fields a-new.
Here nature wanton'd in her prime;
My fancy rang'd the boundless wafte;
Each different fight pleas'd with furprise;
I welcom❜d back the pleasures past.
Thus fome who feel Apollo's rage,
Would teach their muse her drefs and time,
Till hamper'd fo with rules of art,
They fmother quite the vital flame.
They daily chime the fame dull tone,
Their muse no daring fallies grace,
But stiffly held with bit and curb,
Keeps heavy trot, tho' equal pace.
But who takes nature for his rule,
Shall by her generous bounty shine;
His eafy mufe revels at will,
And strikes new wonders
Keep then, my friend, your native guide,
Never distrust her plenteous store,
Ne'er lefs propitious will she prove
Than now, but, if she can, ftill more.
Too blindly partial to my native tongue,
Fond of the fmoothness of our English fong,
At first thy numbers did uncouth appear,
And fhock'd th' affected niceness of the ear;
Thro' prejudice's eye each page I fee,
Tho' all were beauties, none were fo to me.
Yet fham'd at laft, while all thy genius own,
To have that genius hid from me alone,
Refolv'd to find for praise or cenfure cause,
Whether to join with all, or all oppose,
Careful I read thee o'er and o'er again;
At length the useful fearch requites my pain:
My false distaste to inftant pleasures turn'd,
As much I envy as before I fcorn'd;
And thus, the error of my pride to clear,
I fign my honeft recantation here.
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