POETICAL WORKS OF WILL. SHENSTONE. IN TWO VOLUMES. WITH THE LIFE OE THE AUTHOR, A DESCRIPTION OF THE LEASOWES. Sæpe ego longos Cantando puerum memini me condere soles. VIRG. IMITATION. -Right well I call to mind When (yet a boy) whole suns and lengthen'd days Yet while he woo'd the gentle throng, All Nature smil'd while SHEAST ONE sung. VOL. I. LONDON: VERSES by PRINTED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOHN BELL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM SHENSTONE. VOL. I. CONTAINING HIS ELEGIES, c. &c. Sc. Ill was he skill'd to guide his wand'ring sheep, He lov'd the Muse; she taught him to complain; He lov'd the Muse, altho' she taught in vain ; He lov'd the Muse, for she was Virtue's friend----- I saw him faint! I saw him sink to rest! LONDON: ELEGY III. FRINTED FOR JOHN BELL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES. ๆ ว reddes Family A PREFACE. GREAT part of the Poetical Works of Mr. Shenstone, particularly his Elegies and Pastorals, are (as he himself expresses it) "the exact transcripts of "the situation of his own mind,” and abound in frequent allusions to his own place, the beautiful scene of his retirement from the world. Exclusively, therefore, of our natural curiosity to be acquainted with the history of an author whose Works we peruse with pleasure, some short account of Mr. Shenstone's personal character, and situation in life, may not only be agreeable, but absolutely necessary to the reader, as it is impossible he should enter into the true spirit of his writings, if he is entirely ignorant of those circumstances of his life which sometimes so greatly influenced his reflections. I could wish, however, that this task had been allotted to some person capable of performing it in that masterly manner which the subject so well deserves. To confess the truth, it was chiefly to prevent his Remains from falling into the hands of any one still less qualified to do him justice, that I have unwillingly ventured to undertake the publication of them myself. Mr. Shenstone was the eldest son of a plain uneducated gentleman in Shropshire, who farmed his own estate. The father, sensible of his son's extraordinary capacity, resolved to give him a learned A iij |