"At each diftinguish'd birth-night ball, to fee
"The homage, due to Empire, paid to me!
"When every eye was fix'd on me alone,

"And dreaded mine more than the Monarch's frown; "When rival statesmen for my favour strove,

"Lefs jealous in their power than in their love.
Chang'd is the scene; and all my glories die,
"Like flowers transplanted to a colder sky :
"Loft is the dear delight of giving pain,
"The tyrant joy of hearing flaves complain.
"In ftupid indolence my life is spent,
"Supinely calm, and dully innocent:
“Unblest I wear my useless time away ;

"Sleep (wretched maid!) all night, and dream all

"Go at fet hours to dinner and to prayer "(For dullness ever must be regular.) "Now with mamma at tedious whit I play; "Now without fcandal drink infipid tea; "Or in the garden breathe the country air, "Secure from meeting any tempter there ; "From books to work, from work to books, I rove, "And am (alas !) at leifure to improve! "Is this the life a Beauty ought to lead?

"Were eyes fo radiant only made to read?

"Thefe fingers, at whofe touch ev'n age would glow, "Are thefe of ufe for nothing but to few? "Sure erring Nature never could defign "To form a housewife in a mould like mine!

O Venus,

"O Venus, queen and guardian of the fair,
"Attend propitious to thy votary's prayer:
"Let me revifit the dear town again
"Let me be seen!-could I that with obtain,
"All other wishes my own power would gain."

BLENHEI M.

}

Written at the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD, In the Year 1727.

PAREN

ARENT of arts, whofe skilful hand first taught
The towering pile to rife, and form'd the plan
With fair proportion; architect divine,
Minerva; thee to my adventurous lyre
Affiftant I invoke, that means to fing
Blenheim, proud monument of British fame,
Thy glorious work! for thou the lofty towers
Didft to his virtue raife, whom oft thy fhield.
In peril guarded, and thy wifdom steer'd

Through all the ftorms of war.-Thee too I call,
Thalia, fylvan Muse, who lov't to rove
Along the fhady paths and verdant bowers
Of Woodstock's happy grove: there tuning sweet
Thy rural pipe, while all the Dryad train
Attentive liften; let thy warbling song
Paint with melodious praife the pleasing scene,
And equal these to Pindus' honor'd shades.

When Europe freed, confefs'd the faving power
Of Malborough's hand; Britain, who fent him forth

Chief of Confederate hofts, to fight the cause
Of Liberty and Juftice, grateful rais'd
This palace, facred to her leader's fame :
A trophy of fuccefs; with spoils adorn'd
Of conquer'd towns, and glorying in the name
Of that aufpicious field, where Churchill's fword
Vanquish'd the might of Gallia, and chaftis'd
Rebel Bavar. Majestic in its strength,

Stands the proud dome, and speaks its great design.
Hail, happy chief, whofe valour could deferve
Reward fo glorious! grateful nation, hail,
Who paid ft his fervice with fo rich a meed!
Which most shall I admire, which worthiest praise,
The hero or the people? Honour doubts,

And weighs their virtues in an equal fcale.
Not thus Germania pays th' uncancel'd debt

Of Gratitude to us.-Blush, Cæfar, blush,

When thou behold'ft these towers; ingrate, to thee

A monument of shame! Canft thou forget

Whence they are nam'd, and what an English arm
Did for thy throne that day? But we difdain

Or to upbraid or imitate thy guilt.

Still thy obdurate heart against the fenfe
Of obligation infinite; and know,

Britain, like Heaven, protects a thankless world

For her own glory, nor expects reward.

Pleas'd with the noble theme, her talk the Mufe
Pursues untir'd, and through the palace roves
With ever-new delight. The tapestry rich
With gold, and gay with all the beauteous paint

Of

Of various-colour'd filks, difpos'd with skill,
Attracts her curious eye. Here Ifter rolls
His purple wave; and there the Granick flood
With paffing fquadrons foams: here hardy Gaul.
Flies from the fword of Britain; there to Greece
Effeminate Perfia yields.—In arms oppos'd,
Marlborough and Alexander vie for fame
With glorious competition; equal both
In valour and in fortune but their praise
Be different, for with different views they fought;
This to fubdue, and that to free mankind.

Now, through the ftately portals iffuing forth,,
The Mufe to fofter glories turns, and seeks
The woodland shade, delighted. Not the vale
Of Tempe fam'd in fong, or Ida's grove,
Such beauty boafts. Amid the mazy gloom
Of this romantic wilderness once stood
The bower of Rofamonda, hapless fair,
Sacred to Grief and Love; the crystal fount
In which the us'd to bathe her beauteous limbs
Still warbling flows, pleas'd to reflect the face
Of Spencer, lovely maid, when tir'd the fits
Befide its flowery brink, and views those charms
Which only Rofamond could once excell..
But fee where, flowing with a nobler_stream,;
A limpid lake of pureft waters rolls.

Beneath the wide-stretch'd arch, ftupendous work,»
Through which the Danube might collected pour
His fpacious urn! Silent a while and smooth
The current glides, till with an headlong force.

C 3

Broke

Broke and diforder'd, down the steep it falls
In loud cafcades; the filver-sparkling foam
Glitters relucent in the dancing ray.

In thefe retreats repos'd the mighty foul
Of Churchill, from the toils of war and state,
Splendidly private, and the tranquil joy
Of contemplation felt, while Blenheim's dome
Triumphal ever in his mind renew’d

The memory of his fame, and footh'd his thoughts
With pleasing record of his glorious deeds.

So, by. the rage of Faction home recall'd,
Lucullus, while he wag'd fuccessful war
Against the pride of Afia, and the

power Of Mithridates, whofe afpiring mind

No loffes could fubdue, enrich'd with spoils

Of conquer'd nations, back return'd to Rome,
And in magnificent retirement past

The evening of his life.-But not alone,

In the calm fhades of honourable ease,

Great Marlborough peaceful dwelt: indulgent Heaven
Gave a companion to his fofter hours,

With whom converfing, he forgot all change
Of fortune, or of ftate, and in her mind
Found greatnefs equal to his own, and lov'd
Himself in her. Thus each by each admir'd,
In mutual honour, mutual fondness join'd:
Like two fair ftars, with intermingled light,
In friendly union they together shone,
Aiding each other's brightnefs, till the cloud
Of night eternal quench'd the beams of one.

Thee,