GRATITUDE.

Addreffed to Lady Hesketh.

HIS

cap, that so stately appears,

With ribbon-bound taffel on high, Which seems by the creft that it rears Ambitious of brushing the sky: This cap to my Coufin I owe,

She gave it, and gave me befide, Wreath'd into an elegant bow,

The ribbon with which it is tied.

This wheel-footed ftudying chair,
Contrived both for toil and repofe,
Wide-elbow'd, and wadded with hair,
In which I both fcribble and dose,
Bright-ftudded to dazzle the eyes,
And rival in luftre of that
In which, or aftronomy lies,
Fair Caffiopeïa sat :

These carpets, fo foft to the foot,
Caledonia's traffic and pride!

Oh spare them, ye knights of the boot,
Escaped from a cross-country ride!

This table and mirror within,

Secure from collifion and dust,

At which I oft fhave cheek and chin,
And periwig nicely adjust:

This moveable structure of shelves,

For its beauty admired and its use, And charged with octavos and twelves, The gayest I had to produce; Where, flaming in fcarlet and gold, My poems enchanted I view, And hope, in due time, to behold My Iliad and Odyffey too:

This china, that decks the alcove,
Which here people call a buffet,
But what the gods call it above

Has ne'er been reveal'd to us yet: These curtains, that keep the room warm Or cool, as the feafon demands,

Those stoves that for pattern and form Seem the labour of Mulciber's hands.

All these are not half that I owe
To One, from our earliest youth
To me ever ready to show

Benignity, friendship, and truth;
For time, the destroyer declared
And foe of our perishing kind,
If even her face he has fpared,

Much less could he alter her mind.

Thus compaff'd about with the goods
And chattels of leifure and ease,

I indulge my poetical moods

In many
fuch fancies as these ;
And fancies I fear they will seem—
Poets' goods are not often fo fine;
The poets will fwear that I dream
When I fing of the splendour of mine.

1786.

LINES COMPOSED FOR A MEMORIAL OF

ASHLEY COWPER, ESQ.

Immediately after his Death, by his Nephew
William of Wefton.

AREWELL! endued with all that could
engage

All hearts to love thee, both in youth

and age!

In prime of life, for fprightliness enroll'd
Among the gay, yet virtuous as the old;

In life's last stage, (O bleffings rarely found!)
Pleasant as youth with all its blossoms crown'd;
Through every period of this changeful state
Unchanged thyfelf-wife, good, affectionate!

Marble may flatter, and left this should seem O'ercharged with praises on fo dear a theme, Although thy worth be more than half fuppreft, Love fhall be fatisfied, and veil the reft.

June, 1788.

ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LONDON,

The Night of the Seventeenth of March,
1789.

HEN, long fequefter'd from his throne,
George took his feat again,

By right of worth, not blood alone,
Entitled here to reign,

Then Loyalty, with all his lamps

New trimm'd, a gallant show!
Chafing the darkness and the damps,
Set London in a glow.

'Twas hard to tell, of streets or fquares,
Which form'd the chief display,
These most resembling cluster'd stars,
Those the long milky way.

Bright fhone the roofs, the domes, the spires,
And rockets flew, felf-driven,
To hang their momentary fires

Amid the vault of Heaven.

So, fire with water to compare,
The ocean ferves, on high
Up-spouted by a whale in air,
To express unwieldy joy.

Had all the pageants of the world

In one proceffion join'd,

And all the banners been unfurl'd
That heralds e'er defign'd,

For no fuch fight had England's Queen
Forfaken her retreat,

Where George, recover'd, made a scene Sweet always, doubly sweet.

Yet glad she came that night to prove,
A witness undescried,

How much the object of her love
Was loved by all befide.

Darkness the skies had mantled o'er

In aid of her defign-Darkness, O Queen! ne'er call'd before

To veil a deed of thine!

On borrow'd wheels away fhe flies,
Refolved to be unknown,

And gratify no curious eyes
That night except her own.

Arrived, a night like noon fhe fees,
And hears the million hum;
As all by instinct, like the bees,
Had known their fovereign come.

Pleased she beheld aloft portray'd,
On many a fplendid wall,
Emblems of health and heavenly aid,
And George the theme of all.