May not a lowly bard adopt a tale, Where, where is nature with more force exprest, Than in the fond babe-plunder'd mother's breast? Where is a breast inore dead to nature prov'd Than his who sees that mother's pangs unmov'd! That cause assails the human heart by storm, Which pleads the ties of all in human form : The grief-wrung female for her infant wild, Harrows each parent, and affects each child; Beneath your roofs her pictured anguish glides, And brings the interest to your own fire-sides. Britons!-to whom (though adamant in arms) Domestic duties yield peculiar charms ;Who, were those duties with less ardour known, Might learn a sweet example from the Throne.Give your applause, to-night!-at least, be mild! A Play, remember, is a Poet's Child. EPIGRAM. IMITATED FROM MARTIAL. BY DR. DARWIN. WINE, women, warmth, against our lives combine; But what is life without warmth, women, wine? 4 TO HIM WHO SAYS HE LOVES. You tell me that you truly love; Ah! know you well what love does mean? Does neither whim nor fancy move The rapture of your transient dream? Tell me, when absent, do you think Do you in melancholy sink, And doubt, and fear, you know not why? Do you, when near her, die to say, A touch, your nerves with transport swell? Could you for her, fame, wealth despise ? The charms of every other fair, Fondly unchang'd to her repair, VOL. II. Eb And tell me, at her loss or hate, ROSA. ODE TO MUSIC, BY DR. WARTON. QUEEN of every moving measure! ODE*. BY MR. R. A. DAVENPORT. Yes, I have said that on thy cheek The rose and lilly sweetly blended ; Yes, I must own, from thee away, * There is such a resemblance between the thoughts in this Ode, and some of those in Metastasio's beautiful Canzonet La Liberta, that to prevent any imputation upon him, the Author thinks it necessary solemnly to declare, that at the time it was written, he had neither seen nor heard Metastasio's Canzonet, nor even any translation of it. The first knowledge he had of its existence, was from a literary friend, who on reading this Ode, remarked the similarity of thought in the two poems. Two persons with the same feelings, will frequently express themselves in nearly the same manner. Had the Author imitated another writer, he would have thought it a duty to acknowledge, without reserve, his obligations. But now! no more on thee I rave, Peace, health, and friendship's joys neglected: I see thee now, nor feel my heart high-beating, fleeting. Yet still I think that thou art fair, As first when love my breast invaded; For neither sickness, pain, nor care, Thy beauty's peerless bloom hath faded : Still in each tone, each look, each smile excelling, Why then is fond affection flown ? And dost thou ask why thou art slighted! Lady, not form or bloom alone, Or tender voice, my soul delighted : Thy mind as matchless as thy charms believing, 1797. EPIGRAM, • FROM THE GERMAN OF LESSING. You hesitate if you shall take a wife : |