A

COLLECTION

O F

POEM S

IN SIX VOLUMES.

BY

SEVERAL HANDS.

LONDON: Printed by J. HUGHS,
ONDON:

For J. DODSLEY, in PALL-MALL

M DCC LXV.

BODL

12 NOV 1930

LIBRAR

RURAL ELEGANCE:

An ODE to the late Duchess of SOMERSET.

Written 1750.

By WILLIAM SHENSTON E, Efq;

I.

HILE orient fkies restore the day,

WHI

And dew-drops catch the lucid ray;

Amid the sprightly scenes of morn,

Will aught the Muse inspire?
Oh! peace to yonder clamorous horn
That drowns the facred lyre!

II.

Ye rural thanes that o'er the moffy down.
Some panting, timorous hare pursue ;
Does Nature mean your joys alone to crown?

Say, does fhe fmoothe her lawns for you
For you does Echo bid the rocks reply,

?

And urg'd by rude constraint refound the jovial cry?

III.

See from the neighbouring hill, forlorn
The wretched fwain your sport furvey;

He finds his faithful fences torn,

He finds his labour'd crops a prey;

He fees his flock-no more in circles feed
Haply beneath your ravage bleed,

And with no random curfes loads the deed,

Your bounded fouls, and your conceptions crude,

The proud, the felfifh boast disown:

Yours be the produce of the foil;
O may it still reward your toil!

Nor ever the defencelefs train

Of clinging infants, afk fupport in vain!