Farewel!-When youth, and health, and fortune spent, Thou fly'ft for refuge to the wilds of Kent;
And tir'd, like me, with follies and with crimes, In angry numbers warn'ft fucceeding times; Then fhall thy friend, nor thou refufe his aid, • Still foe to vice, forfake his Cambrian fhade e;
• In virtue's caufe once more exert his rage,
Thy fatire point, and animate thy page.'
IF aught of oaten ftop, or paftoral fong,
May hope, chafte Eve, to foothe thy modeft ear,
Like thy own folemn springs,
Thy springs and dying gales,
O nymph referv'd, while now the bright-hair'd fun
Sits on yon western tent, whofe cloudy skirts
With brede etherial wove,
Now air is hufh'd, fave where the weak-ey'd bat,
With short fhrill fhrieks flits by on leathern wing,
Or where the beetle winds
His fmall but fullen horn,
As oft he rifes midft the twilight path,
Against the pilgrim borne in heedlefs hum;
Now teach me, maid compos'd,
To breathe fome foften'd ftrain,
Whofe numbers, ftealing through thy dark'ning vale,
May not unfeemly with it's ftillness fuit,
As mufing flow, I hail
Thy genial lov'd return!
For when thy folding ftar arifing fhews
His paly circlet, at his warning lamp
The fragrant Hours, and elves
Who flept in flow'rs the day,
And many a nymph who wreathes her brows with fedge,
And sheds the fresh'ning dew; and lovelier ftill,
The penfive Pleasures sweet;
Prepare thy fhadowy car.
Then lead, calm vot'refs, where some sheety lake
Chears the lone heath, or fome time-hallow'd pile,
Or upland fallows grey,
Reflect it's last cool gleam.
But when chill bluft'ring winds, or driving rain,
Forbid my willing feet, be mine the hut,
That from the mountain's fide
Views wilds, and fwelling floods,
And hamlets brown, and dim-difcover'd fpires,
And hears their fimple bell, and marks o'er all
Thy dewy fingers draw
The gradual dusky veil.
While Spring shall pour his fhow'rs, as oft he wont,
And bathe thy breathing treffes, meekest Eve!
While Summer loves to sport
Beneath thy ling'ring light;
While fallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves;
Or Winter, yelling through the troublous air,
Affrights thy fhrinking train,
And rudely rends thy robes;
So long, fure-found beneath the fylvan shed,
Shall Fancy, Friendship, Science, rofe-lipp'd Health,
Thy gentleft influence own,
And hymn thy fav'rite name!
INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HON. LADY FANNY FIELDING.
N the fmooth dance to move with graceful mien,
Easy with care, and fprightly tho' ferene;
To mark th' inftructions echoing trains convey,
And with just steps each tuneful note obey;
I teach. Be prefent, all ye facred choir,
Blow the foft flute, and itrike the founding lyre:
When Fielding bids, your kind affiftance bring,
And at her feet the lowly tribute fling;
Oh! may her eyes, (to her this verfe is due)
What first themselves infpir'd, vouchsafe to view!
Hail, loftieft art! thou canst all hearts enfnare,
And make the fairest ftill appear more fair.
Beauty can little 'execution do,
Unless the borrows half her arms from you!
Few, like Pygmalion, doat on lifeless charms,
Or care to clasp a ftatue in their arms;
But breasts of flint muft melt with fierce defire,
When art and motion wake the fleeping fire.
A Venus, drawn by great Apelles' hand,
May for a while our wond'ring eyes command;
But ftill, tho' form'd with all the pow'rs of art,
The lifeless piece can never warm the heart;
So fair a nymph, perhaps, may please the eye,
Whilst all her beauteous limbs inactive lie;
But when her charms are in the dance display'd,
Then ev'ry heart adores the lovely maid;
This fets her beauty in the faireft light,
And fhews each grace in full perfection bright.
Then, as she turns around, from ev'ry part,
Like porcupines, she fends a piercing dart:
In vain, alas! the fond fpectator tries
To fhun the pleafing dangers of her eyes;
For, Parthian-like, fhe wounds as fure behind,
With flowing curls, and ivory neck reclin'd.
Whether her steps the Minuet's mazes trace,
Or the flow Louvre's more majestick pace;
Whether the Rigadoon employs her care,
Or fprightly Jigg displays the nimble fair;
At ev'ry step new beauties we explore,
And worship now, what we admir'd before.
So, when Æneas, in the Tyrian grove,
Fair Venus met, the charming Queen of Love,
The beauteous goddess, whilft unmov'd fhe flood,
Seem'd fome fair nymph, the guardian of the wood;
But when the mov'd, at once her heav'nly mien,
And graceful ftep, confefs'd bright Beauty's queen;
New glories o'er her form each moment rise,
And all the goddess opens to his eyes.
Now hafte, my Mafe, purfue thy deftin'd way;
What dresses beft become the dancer, say:
The rules of drefs forget not to impart,
A leffon previous to the dancing art.
The foldier's fcarlet, glowing from afar,
Shews that his bloody occupation's war;
Whilst the lawn band, beneath a double chin,
As plainly speaks divinity within.
The milk-maid fafe, thro' driving rains and fnows,
Wrapp'd in her cloak, and propp'd on pattens goes;
Whilft the foft belle, immur'd in velvet chair,
Needs but the filken fhoe, and trufts her bofom bare.
The woolly drab, and English broad-cloth warm,
Guard well the herfeman from the beating ftorm;
But load the dancer with too great a weight,
And call from ev'ry pore the dewy sweat:
Rather let him his active limbs display
In camblet thin, or gloffy paduafoy.
Let no unweildy pride his shoulders prefs,
But airy, light, and eafy, be his dress;
Thin be his yielding fole, and low his heel,
So fhall he nimbly bound, and fafely wheel.
But let not precepts known my verse prolong ;
Precepts, which ufe will better teach than song:
For why fhould I the gallant fpark command,
With clean white gloves to fit his ready hand?
Or in his fob enlivening fpirits wear,
And pungent falts, to raife the fainting fair?
Or hint, the sword that dangles at his fide,
Should from it's filken bandage be untied?
Why should my lays the youthful tribe advife,
Left fnowy clouds from out their wigs arife?
So fhall their partners mourn their laces fpoil'd,
And fhining filks with greafy powder foil'd.
Nor need I, fure, bid prudent youths beware,
Left with erected tongues their buckles ftare;
The pointed steel shall oft their stocking rend,
And oft th' approaching petticoat offend.
"And now, ye youthful fair, I fing to you;
With pleafing fmiles my ufeful labours view:
For you the filk-worms fine-wrought webs display,
And, lab'ring, fpin their little lives away;
For you bright gems with radiant colours glow,
Fair as the dies that paint the heav'nly bow;
For you the fea refigns it's pearly ftore,
And earth unlocks her mines of treafur'd ore.
In vain, yet, Nature thus her gifts bestows,
Unless yourselves with art those gifts dispose.
Yet think not, nymphs, that in the glitt'ring ball,
One form of drefs prefcrib'd can fuit with all.
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