A troop at certain times compell'd to shift, And from their northern mountains turn'd adrift; By tyrant managers a while consign'd To fatten on what forage they can find; With lawless force our liberty invades, [shades: To stronger holds with cool discretion run, vours So kindly indulged to our simple endeavours; To the great and the fair we rest thankfully debtors, And wish we could say, we gave place to our betters. MRS. G SPOKEN BY AT HER BENEFIT. UNTAUGHT to tread the Muse's various maze, The screaming goose and waddling duck come last, Alike partakers of the free repast. The breakfast done, behold each thankless guest (Some birds, like men, make gratitude a jest), With insolence and pamper'd pride elate, Presumes his merit should provide him meat, And thinks the hostess thank'd that he vouchsafed to eat. A linnet, perching on a neighbouring tree, SPOKEN BY A CHILD OF NINE YEARS OLD. As the wise ones within have assured me it's Το common For chits of my age to be aping the woman, prove that I've talents as well as another, Good folks!-I ran forward-in spite of ther. my mo[case is ; Don't tell me, says I-they shall know how the I'm not to be check'd in my airs and my graces: I was born a coquette-and, by Goles, I'm not idle; I can ogle already—look peevish, and bridle; And I'll practise new gestures,each night and each morning, [warning. 'Gainst I reach to my teens-so I give ye fair Though I move ye at present with nothing but laughter, Look well to your hearts, beaux!-I'll swinge ye hereafter. [bolder, Have patience, then, pray; and, by practice grown I'll promise to please, if I live to grow older. STANZAS SPOKEN AT A PLAY AT THE THEATRE IN SUNDERLAND, WHO can behold with an unpitying eye The gentle homage that to-night you've paid Prove that your hearts beat nobly in her cause. That lops one branch from this illustrious tree! Britons!-'tis yours to make her verdure thrive, O, may her rich, her ripening fruits of gold, EULOGIUM ON CHARITY. SPOKEN AT ALNWICK, AT A CHARITABLE BENEFIT To bid the rancour of ill fortune cease, Soft are the graces that adorn the maid, 'Her sister's charms are more than doubly bright, From the kind cause that call'd her here to-night, 1 Countess of Northumberland. An artless grace the conscious heart bestows, And on the generous cheek a tincture glows, More lovely than the bloom that paints the vernal rose. The lofty pyramid shall cease to live, Fleeting the praise such monuments can give! But Charity, by tyrant Time revered, Sweet Charity, amidst his ruins spared, Secures her votaries unblasted fame, And in celestial annals saves their name. |