ON THE SAME. SIR Gusman turn'd his brain, why then, Of Irish Ram, thus have I seen, An useless heap his blundering head. TO DELIA SINGING, YES, my fair, to thee belong, WILLIAM WHITEHEAD. Cambridge.-1741.-1785. Cibber's successor as Laureat. TO MR. MASON. BELIEVE me Mason, 'tis in vain Thy fortitude the torrent braves; Which early fancy loves to form, But ah, to few has fortune given And why are varying schemes preferr'd? Or wealth, or honours, fame, or ease. 'Till strengthen'd by the public voice, How oft, beneath some hoary shade Preferr'd to Heaven thy favourite vow, "Here, here for ever let me stay, "Here calmly loiter life away, "Nor all those vain connections know "Which fetter down the free-born mind, "The slave of interest, or show; "While yon gay tenant of the grove, "The happier heir of Nature's love, "Can warble unconfined." Yet sure my friend, the eternal plan Then by the apparent judge the unseen; To one great end, howe'er withstood, All labour for the general good; That bird, thy fancy frees from care, From field to field, from tree to tree, His lot united with his kind, Alarm by turns his anxious breast, And tell me, has not nature made Some spring, some wheel, which asks thy aid To move regardless of thy will? Go then, go feel with glad surprise Thou quit thy darling schemes of ease; Nay, glowing in the full career, INSCRIPTION FOR A TREE. * On the Terrace at Nuneham, Oxfordshire. snow. had cloathed the matron's head with * This tree is well known to the country people, by the name of Bab's Tree. It was planted by one Barbara Wyat, who was so much attached to it, that, on the removal of the village of Nuneham, to where it is now built, she earnestly entreated that she might still remain in her old habitation. Her request was complied with, and her cottage not pulled down till after her death. |