John Duncombe

“ And give your sex's portraits, bold and true,
In colours worthy of themselves and you!
Now in ecstatic visions let me rove,
By Cynthia's beams, thro' Brackley's glimmering grove,
Where still each night, by startled shepherds seen,
Young [13] Leapor's form flies shadowy o'er the green.
Those envied honours nature lov'd to pay
The briar-bound turf, where erst her Shakespear lay,
Now on her darling Mira she bestows;
There o'er the hallow'd ground she fondly strows
The choicest fragrance of the breathing spring,
And bids each year her favourite linnet sing. ”

“ O happy nymph, tho' winter o'er thy head,
Blind to that form, the snow of age shall shed;
Tho' life's short spring and beauty's blossoms fade,
Still shall thy reason flourish undecay'd;
Time, tho' he steals the roseate bloom of youth,
Shall spare the charms of virtue and of truth,
And on thy mind new charms, new bloom bestow,
Wisdom's best friend, and only beauty's foe. ”

“ Haste, haste, ye Nine, and hear a sister sing
The charms of Cynthia, and the joys of spring!
See! night's pale goddess, with a grateful beam
Paints her lov'd image in the shadowy stream,
While, round his votary, spring profusely showers
"A snow of blossoms, and a wild of flowers." ”

“ And tho' the Nine her tuneful strains inspire,
We less her genius, than her heart, admire,
Pleas'd, 'midst the great, one truly good to see,
And proud to tell that Somerset is she.
By generous views one [9] peeress more demands
A grateful tribute from all female hands;
One, who to shield them from the worst of foes,
In their just cause dar'd Pope himself oppose.
Their own dark forms deceit and envy wear,
By Irwin touch'd with [10] truth's celestial spear.
By her disarm'd, ye witlings! now give o'er
Your empty sneers, and shock the sex no more. ”

“ In loathsome pomp, where eastern tyrants reign;
Where each fair neck the yoke of slav'ry galls,
Clos'd in a proud Seraglio's gloomy walls,
And taught, that levell'd with the brutal kind,
Nor sense, nor souls to women are assign'd.
Our British nymphs with happier omens rove,
At freedom's call, thro' wisdom's sacred grove,
And, as with lavish hand each sister grace
Shapes the fair form and regulates the face,
Each sister muse, in blissful union join'd,
Adorns, improves, and beautifies the mind. ”

“ In mind and person equally divine,
Till man, no more to female merit blind,
Admire the person, but adore the mind.
To these weak strains, O thou! the sex's friend
And constant patron, [1] Richardson! attend!
Thou, who so oft with pleas'd, but anxious care,
Haft watch'd the dawning genius of the fair,
With wonted smiles wilt hear thy friend display
The various graces of the female lay;
Studious from Folly's yoke their minds to free,
And aid the generous cause espous'd by thee.
Long o'er the world did Prejudice maintain,
By sounds like these, her undisputed reign:
"Woman! ”

“ The warbled notes of Rowe's ecstatic song.
Old Avon pleas'd, his reedy forehead rears,
And polish'd Orrery delighted hears.
See with what transport she resigns her breath,
Snatch'd by a sudden, but a wish'd-for death!
Releas'd from earth, with smiles she roars on high
Amidst her kindred spirits of the sky,
Where faith and love those endless joys bestow,
That warm'd her lays, and fill'd her hopes below.
Nor can her noble [8] friend escape unseen,
Or from the muse her modest virtues screen ”

“ Leapor, daughter to a Northamptonshire gardener, has lately convinced the world of the force of unassisted nature by imitating and equalling some it our most approved poets, by the strength of her parts, and the vivacity of her genius.↑ Mrs. ”

“ Catherine Philips: The celebrated Orinda, was distinguished by most of the wits of King Charles's reign, and died young. Her pieces on Friendship are particularly admired.↑ Anne countess of Winchelsea, a lady of great wit and genius, wrote (among others) a poem, much admired, on the Spleen, and is praised by Mr. ”

“ Pope, has rescued her sex's cause from the aspersions cast on them by that satyrist in his essay on the characters of women.↑ See Milton, book iv. ver. 811.↑ Mrs. Wright, sister to the famous Wesleys, has published some pieces, which, tho' of a melancholy cast, are written in the genuine spirit of poetry.↑ Mrs. Madan is author of a poem called the Progress of Poetry, wherein the characters of the best Grecian, Roman, and English poets are justly and elegantly drawn.↑ Mrs. ”