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TWICE twenty tedious moons have roll'd away,
Since hope, kind flatterer! tun'd my pensive lay,
Whispering, that you, who rais'd me from despair,
Meant, by your smiles, to make life worth my care;
With pitying hand an orphan's tears to fkreen
And o'er the motherlefs extend the queen.
'T'will be the prophet guides the poet's strain !
Grief never touch'd a heart like your's in vain :
Heaven gave you power, because you love to bless;
And pity, when you feel it, is redress.

Two fathers join'd to rob my claim of one!
My mother too thought fit to have no fon!
The fenate next, whose aid the helpless own,
Forgot my infant wrongs, and mine alone!
Yet parents pitylefs, nor peers unkind,
Nor titles loft, nor woes mysterious join'd,

Strip me of hope-by heaven thus lowly laid,

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find a Pharaoh's daughter in the shade.

You

You cannot hear unmov'd, when wrongs implore, Your heart is woman, though your mind be more; 20 Kind, like the power who gave you to our prayers, You would not lengthen life to sharpen cares; They, who a barren leave to live bestow, Snatch but from death to facrifice to woe. Hated by her from whom my life I drew,

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Whence should I hope, if not from heaven and you?

Nor dare I groan beneath affliction's rod,

My queen my mother, and my father-God.

The pitying Muses faw me wit pursue ;
A bastard-son, alas! on that fide too,
Did not your eyes exalt the poet's fire,
And what the Mufe denies, the queen inspire ?
While rifing thus your heavenly foul to view,
I learn, how angels think, by copying you.
Great princess! 'tis decreed-once every year
I march uncall'd your Laureat Volunteer;
Thus fhall your poet his low genius raise,

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And charm the world with truths too vaft for praise.
Nor need I dwell on glories all your own,
Since furer means to tempt your fmiles are known; 40
Your Poet fhall allot your lord his part,

And paint him in his nobleft throne-your heart.
Is there a greatnefs that adorns Him beft,
A rifing with, that ripens in his breast?
Has He foremeant fome diftant age to blefs,
Difarm oppreffion, or expel diftrefs?
Plans He some scheme to reconcile mankind,
People the feas, and bufy every wind?
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Would

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Would he by pity the deceiv'd reclaim,
And fmile contending factions into fhame ?
Would his example lend his laws a weight,
And breathe his own soft morals o'er his ftate ?
The Mufe fhall find it all, fhall make it feen,
And teach the world his praife, to charm his queen.
Such be the annual truths my verse imparts
Nor frown, fair favourite of a people's hearts!
Happy if, plac'd, perchance, beneath your eye,
My Mufe, unpenfion'd, might her pinions try ;
Fearless to fail, whilft you indulge her flame,
And bid me proudly boaft your Laureat's name; 60
Renobled thus by wreaths my queen bestows,
I lose all memory of wrongs and woes.

THE

VOLUNTEER LAUREAT.

A POEM

ON HER

MAJESTY'S BIRTH-DAY, 1732-3.

"GR

NO, II.

REAT princess, 'tis decreed ! once every year, I march uncall'd, your Laureat Volunteer," So fung the Mufe; nor fung the Mufe in vain : My queen accepts, the year renews the strain,

Ere

Ere first your influence frone with heavenly aid,
Each thought was terror; for each view was fhade.
Fortune to life each flowery path deny`d;
No fcience learn'd to bloom, no lay to glide.
Instead of hallow'd hill, or vocal vale,
Or ftream, sweet-echoing to the tuneful tale
Damp dens confin'd, or barren deserts spread,
With fpe&tres haunted, and the Mufes fled;
Ruins in penfive emblem feem to rife,

And all was dark, or wild, to Fancy's eyes.

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But hark! a gladdening voice all nature chears! 15
Difperfe, ye glooms! a day of joy appears?
Hail, happy day!-'Twas on thy glorious morn,
The first, the fairest of her fex was born!

How fwift the change! Cold, wintery forrows fly;
Where e'er the looks, delight furrounds the eye! 20
Mild hines the fun, the woodlands warble round,
The vales fweet echo, fweet the rocks refound!
In cordial air foft fragrance floats along;

Each scene is verdure, and each voice is fong!

Shoot from yon orb divine, ye quickening rays! 25 Boundless, like her benevolence, ye blaze!

Soft emblems of her bounty, fall ye showers!
And sweet afcend, and fair unfold ye flowers!
Ye rofes, lilies, you we earliest claim,

In whitenefs, and in fragrance, match her fame!
'Tis yours to fade, to fame like hers is due
Undying fweets, and bloom for ever new.
Ye bloffoms, that one varied landscape tif›,
And fend your fcentful tribute to the skies;

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Diffufive

Diffufive like yon royal branches smile,

Grace the young year, and glad the grateful ifle!
Attend, ye Mufes ! mark the feather'd quires!
Thofe the fpring wakes, as you the queen infpires.
O, let her praise for ever fwell your song!
Sweet let your facred streams the notes prolong,
Clear, and more clear, through all my lays refine;
And there let heaven and her reflected fhine!

As, when chill blights from vernal funs retire,
Chearful the vegetative world afpire,
Put forth unfolding blooms, and waving try
Th' enlivening influence of a milder sky ;
So gives her birth (like yon approaching spring)
The land to flourish, and the Muse to fing.
'Twas thus, Zenobia, on Palmyra's throne,
In learning, beauty, and in virtue fhone;
Beneath her rofe, Longinus, in thy name,
The poet's, critick's, and the patriot's fame!
Is there (fo high be you, great princess, prais'd!)
A woe unpitied, or a worth unrais'd ?

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Art learns to foar by your fweet influence taught ; 55
In life well cherish'd; nor in death forgot :

In death, as life, the learn'd your goodness tell!
Witnefs the facred bufts of Richmond's cell!
Sages, who in unfading light will fhine;

Who grafp'd at science, like your own, divine!

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The Mufe, who hails with song this glorious morn,

Now looks through days, through months, through

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