And weave delay, the better hour is near That shall remunerate thy toils severe, By peace for Afric, fenced with British laws. Enjoy what thou hast won, esteem and love From all the just on earth and all the blest above. April 16, 1792. EPIGRAM PRINTED IN THE NORTHAMPTON MERCURY. To purify their wine, some people bleed TO DR. AUSTIN, OF CECIL STREET, LONDON. AUSTIN! accept a grateful verse from me, Yet, if extensive fame, and sure to live, Friend of my friend!* I love thee, though unknown, And boldly call thee, being his, my own. May 26, 1792. CATHARINA: THE SECOND PART: ON HER MARRIAGE TO GEORGE COURTENAY, ESQ. BELIEVE it or not, as you choose, The doctrine is certainly true, And poets are oracles too. I did but express a desire To see Catharina at home, At the side of my friend George's fire, Such prophecy some may despise, And therefore attains to its end. Mariat would leave us, I knew, 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. * Hayley. † Lady Throckmorton. Since, therefore, I seem to incur I will e'en to my wishes again- EPITAPH ON FOP, A DOG BELONGING TO LADY THROCKMORTON. THOUGH Once a puppy, and though Fop by name, Here moulders one whose bones some honor claim. No sycophant, although of spaniel race, And though no hound, a martyr to the chase Ye squirrels, rabbits, leverets, rejoice, “Yes,”—the indignant shade of Fop replies— “And worn with vain pursuit, man also dies.” August, 1792, SONNET TO GEORGE ROMNEY, ESQ., ON HIS PICTURE OF ME IN CRAYONS, Drawn at Eartham in the 61st year of my age, and in the months of August and September, 1792, ROMNEY, expert infallibly to trace On chart or canvas, not the form alone And semblance, but however faintly shown, The mind's impression too on every face With strokes that time ought never to erase, But this I mark-that symptoms none of woe Since, on maturer thought, the cause is clear; For in my looks what sorrow could'st thou see When I was Hayley's guest, and sat to thee? October, 1792. MARY AND JOHN. IF John marries Mary, and Mary alone, "Tis a very good match between Mary and John. Should John wed a score, oh, the claws and the scratches! It can't be a match-'tis a bundle of matches. EPITAPH ON MR. CHESTER, OF CHICHELEY. TEARS flow, and cease not, where the good man lies, Till all who knew him follow to the skies. Tears therefore fall where Chester's ashes sleep; Him wife, friends, brothers, children, servants weep And justly-few shall ever him transcend April, 1793. TO MY COUSIN, ANNE BODHAM, ON RECEIVING FROM HER A NETWORK PURSE My gentle Anne, whom heretofore, I danced and fondled on my knee, Gold pays the worth of all things here; INSCRIPTION FOR A HERMITAGE IN THIS cabin, Mary, in my sight appears, Preliminary to-the last retreat. TO MRS. UNWIN. MARY! I want a lyre with other strings, Such aid from heaven as some have feign'd they drew, An eloquence scarce given to mortals, new And undebased by praise of meaner things, That, ere through age or woe I shed my wings, |