VERSES, WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF A GENTLEMAN WH TO WHOM A LADY HAD GIVEN A SPRIG OF MYRTLE*. HAT hopes, what terrors, does this gift create? The myrtle (enfign of fupreme command, *Thefe verfes were first priated in a Magazine for 1768, but were written between forty and fifty years ago. Elegant as they are, they were compofed in the thort space of five minutes. To To Lady FIREBRACE*, At BURY ASSIZES. T length muft Suffolk beauties fhine in vain, So long renown'd in B-n's deathlefs ftrain? Thy charms at least, fair Firebrace, might infpire Some zealous bard to wake the fleeping lyre; For, fuch thy beauteous mind and lovely face, Thou seem'st at once, bright nymph, a Muse and Grace. To LY CE, an elderly Lady. YE nymphs whom starry rays invest, By flattering poets given, Who fhine, by lavish lovers dreft, Engrofs not all the beams on high, Let Lyce share the praise. *This lady was Bridget, third daughter of Philip Bacon, Efq. of Ipswich, and relict of Philip Evers, Efq. of that town. She became the fecond wife of Sir Cordell Firebrace, the last Baronet of that name (to whom he brought a fortune of 25,000l.), July 26, 1737. Being again left a widow in 1759, fhe was a third time married, April 7, 1762, to William Campbell, Efq. uncle to the present Duke of Argyle; and died July 3, 1782. Her filver locks display the moon, Strip'd rainbows round her eyes are seen, Her teeth the night with darkness dyes, But fome Zelinda, while I fing, Yet fpite of fair Zelinda's eye, ON THE DEATH OF Mr. ROBERT LEVET, A Practifer in Phyfic. (ONDEMN'D to Hope's delufive mine, By sudden blasts, or flow decline, Well try'd through many a varying year, Officious, innocent, fincere, Of every friendless name the friend. Yet ftill he fills Affection's eye, When fainting nature call'd for aid, The pow'r of art without the fhow. No fummons mock'd by chill delay, The bufy day-the peaceful night, His frame was firm-his powers were bright, Then with no fiery throbbing pain, Death broke at once the vital chain, EPITAPH on CLAUDE PHILLIPS, AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN *. PHILLIPS! whofe touch harmonious could remove pangs of guilty pow'r, and hapless love, Reft here, diftreft by poverty no more, EPITA PHIUM IN THOMAM HANMER, BARONETtum, Honorabilis admodum THOMAS HANMER, Wilhelmi Hanmer armigeri è Peregrina Henrici De Mildenhal in Com. Suffolciæ Baronnetti forore et hærede. Johannis Hanmer de Hanmer Baronetti * These lines are among Mrs. Williams's Mifcellanies: they are nevertheless recognized as Johnson's in a memorandum of his hand-writing, and were probably written at her request. Phillips was a travelling fidler up and down Wales, and was greatly celebrated for his performance, Hæres |