None here is happy but in part; Full bliss is bliss divine: There dwells some wish in every heart, That wish, on some fair future day, TO MRS. THROCKMORTON, ON HER BEAUTIFUL TRANSCRIPT OF HORACE'S ODE FEBRUARY, 1790. MARIA, Could Horace have guess'd The honour which you have bestow'd: He had laugh'd at the critical sneer Which he seems to have trembled to meet. And sneer, if you please, he had said, A nymph shall hereafter arise, Who shall give me, when you are all dead, The glory your malice denies; Shall dignity give to my lay, Although but a mere bagatelle; And even a poet shall say, Nothing ever was written so well. CATHARINA. To Miss Stapleton, now Mrs. Courtnay. SHE came-she is gone-we have met— And seems to have risen in vain, The last evening ramble we made, By the nightingale warbling nigh. And much she was charm'd with a tone Less sweet to Maria and me, Who so lately had witness'd her own. My numbers that day she had sung, As only her musical tongue Could infuse into numbers of mine. The longer I heard, I esteem'd The work of my fancy the more, And e'en to myself never seem'd Though the pleasures of London exceed Catharina, did nothing impede, For the close woven arches of limes Than aught that the city can show. So it is, when the mind is endued Since then in the rural recess The scene of her sensible choice! From the clatter of street-pacing steeds, And by Philomel's annual note To measure the life that she leads. With her book, and her voice, and her lyre, And ours would be pleasant as hers, Might we view her enjoying it here. CATHARINA. ON HER MARRIAGE TO GEORGE COURTNAY, ESQ. 1792. BELIEVE it or not, as you choose, I did but express a desire To see Catharina at home, At the side of my friend George's fire, And therefore attains to its end. To the grief and regret of us all, But less to our grief, could we view Catharina the queen of the hall: And therefore I wish'd as I did, And therefore this union of hands: Not a whisper was heard to forbid, But all cry-Amen-to the bans. Since therefore I seem to incur No danger of wishing in vain, When making good wishes for her, I will e'en to my wishes again— Lady Throckmorton. With one I have made her a wife, lifeHow soon I can make her a mother. THIS сар, GRATITUDE. Addressed to Lady Hesketh. 1786. that so stately appears, With ribbon-bound tassel on high, Which seems by the crest that it rears Ambitious of brushing the sky: This cap to my cousin I owe; She gave it, and gave me beside, Wreathed into an elegant bow, The ribbon with which it is tied. These carpets, so soft to the foot, Secure from collision and dust, |