TO MRS MARTHA BLOUNT. SENT ON HER BIRTH-DAY, JUNE 15TH. O, BE thou blest with all that Heaven can send, Let joy or ease, let affluence or content, *The six following lines are thus varied in Pope's Works: With added years of life bring nothing new, But like a sieve let every blessing thro'; Some joy still lost, as each vain year runs o'er, And all we gain, some sad reflection more: Is that a Birth-day? 'tis alas! too clear, "Tis but the funeral of the former year. I SAID to my heart between sleeping and waking, Thou wild thing, that always art leaping or aching, What black, brown, or fair, in what clime, in what nation, By turns has not taught thee a pit-a-pat-ation? Thus accus'd, the wild thing gave this sober reply: See the heart without motion, tho' Celia pass by! Not the beauty she has, or the wit that she borrows, Gives the eye any joys, or the heart any sorrows. When our Sappho appears, she whose wit's so refin'd, I am forc'd to applaud with the rest of mankind; Prudentia as vainly would put in her claim, But Cloe so lively, so easy, so fair, Her wit so genteel, without art, without care; When she comes in my way, the motion, the pain, The leapings, the achings, return all again. The Earl of Peterborow.-H. O wonderful creature! a woman of reason! Never grave out of pride, never gay out of season! When so easy to guess who this angel should be, Would one think Mrs Howard ne'er dreamt it was she? BALLAD. [This song was written on Miss Nelly Bennet, a celebrated beauty, who went under the escort of Dr Arbuthnot, in 1718, to reside with an uncle in France. On the 14th October in that year, Dr Arbuthnot writes to the Dean an account of his Paris journey. "Among other things, I had the honour to carry an Irish lady to Court, that was admired beyond all the ladies in France for her beauty. She had great honours done her; the hussar himself was ordered to bring her the King's cat to kiss. Her name is Bennet." On December 11th, he renews the subject. "You say you are ready to resent it as an affront, if I thought a beautiful lady a curiosity in Ireland; but pray, is it an affront to say that a lady hardly known or observed for her beauty in Ireland, is a curiosity in France?" The song may be safely ascribed to Dr Arbuthnot.] Of all the girls that e'er were seen, * Miss Nelly Bennet, a celebrated beauty.-N. Oh! the turn'd neck, and smooth white skin Of lovely dearest Nelly! For many a swain it well had been, For when, as Nelly came to France And bid him bring his tabby cat, The ladies were with rage provok'd But not a man did look employ, Except on pretty Nelly, Then said the Duke de Villeroy, But who's that grave philosopher, The courtiers all with one accord Then might you see a painted ring In Marli's gardens, and St Clou, But Venus had a brazen face, Were Nelly's figure mounted there, As does that part that lies between Her left toe and her right toe. |