Gloomy Care with mildew'd wing
Soon will blast that blushing spring;
Till ev'n Thou, though form'd to please,
Bleft with beauty, wit, and ease;

Though each voice thy worth proclaim,
Though the Graces fhaped thy frame :—
Tho--but I can add no more.
Read the moral in the flower.

SAPPHO's

SAPPHO's ODE to VENUS

TRANSLATE D.

GA

AY smiling Venus, heav'nly fair,
To whom our lofty Temples rife!
Who gently lay'st the secret fnare,
In which the bleeding lover dies.

Propitious Power! my foul infpire,
And shield from every danger nigh;
Defcend, and tune my warbling lyre,
If e'er Thou heard'ft a lover's cry.

Thus while I fung, to ease my care
From heav'n the radiant Goddess flew;
I mark'd her track along the air;

Her carr the swift-wing'd sparrows drew.

Then-with a foft inviting smile:

"What fears thy troubled thoughts controul? "Why call'ft Thou Me? What hopes beguile, "What wishes foothe thy melting foul?

Why

Why is my Fair a prey to woe?

Why ftreams with grief that sparkling eye?

Why must thy heaving bofom glow?

"O tell, my Sappho, tell me why!

"If of the falfe deluding youth
દર Thy lyre in dying notes complains,
"Soon he'll reward thy fteady truth,
And take the gifts he now difdains.

If now he fhuns thy longing arms,
Soon will he own your mighty fway,
Adore thefe bright refiftlefs charms,
*And all your foft commands obey.”

Thou my Guardian, and my Friend!
Allay thefe fierce deftructive fires!
O from yon azure skies defcend!

To the Memory of Mrs.

IS done: the foul hath left its foft abode:

How pale the cheek where warmth and
beauty glow'd!

Where now those charms that held th'admiring fight?
The bloom as. heav'n's unclouded azure bright?
Th' attractive smile by Nature taught to please?
The mien that temper'd dignity with ease?
Ah where!-Yon folemn filent vault furvey,
Where writhes the reptile o'er its kindred clay;
There read on pride's ftain'd cheek the general doom
Then pause-while Memory bleeds upon the tomb.

O SNATCH'D from life to tafte of blifs refin'd!

How warm with transport glows th'unbounded mind!
Say, marks thy wondering foul in raptured gaze,
The domes all-gleaming with celeftial rays?
Sees the bright Quire in long proceflion move?
Or melts to notes that breathe eternal love?

* The Lady to whofe memory thefe verfes are infcribed, died in the end of the year 1753, and the Poem was wrote and published a few months afterwards. Their merit (if they have any) lies in

Of

expreffing the language of the heart, a circumftance which induced the Author to make no alteration, unless in a few of the introductory lines.

Or floats loofe-hovering on celestial wings?
Or hears fome Cherub fweep the trembling strings?
Or tries fublime the fwelling Hymn to raife,
And tunes the warbling lute to fongs of praife.

PERHAPS, while we th' untimely ftroke bemoan, Thou bend'ft adoring at th' Eternal's throne; While from our eye-balls burst the streams of woe, Thine happier foul can wonder why they flow; Or fmile, and pitying our mistaken fighs, Can blefs the hour that fent thee to the fkies.

YET muft our forrows ftain thy mournful bier; Such fweetnefs loft demands a tender tear. Thine was the breast by conscious virtue warm'd, The heart that pitied, and the look that charm'd; The beam of wit from fparkling genius brought, Its fire chaftis'd by cool directing thought; Superior fenfe, by paffion ne'er betray'd, The kindling tranfport, and the judging head, The thought which Art and candid Taste refine; The generous wifh, the feeling foul was thine.

LAMENTED ftroke!-O loft fo late, fo foon! 'Twas heav'n beftow'd, and heav'n recall'd the boon. But ah, what fighs our throbbing bofoms rend! Thehelple's Orphan, Hufband, Father, Friend,

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