LINES ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND. 23 Nor*** forget with his free-op'ning door, (Tho' doomed to neglect, when his sunshine was o'er,) In whose manners, a vein of French suavity flow'd, As once soften'd that region of grace th' abode. Like the poor Bedouin Arab on Africa's strand, With his palm-shaded isle in an ocean of sand; While the landscape in colours, unfading still glows; With the cellar displaying its long-treasur'd hoards; At our follies and errors, we'll join in your laugh. LINES ADDRESSED TO A LADY, LAMENTING HER HAIR WAS TURNED GREY. "A short-liv'd reign, of some few years at most, "Is all, alas! the fairest Belle can boast; By slow degrees she feels her power decay, "And younger beauties bear the palm away; "Then Age comes limping with his frosty face, "To blight each joy, and wither ev'ry grace." Coll. of fugitive Poetry. You complain fair ***, your tresses are grey, And your cheeks boast no longer the freshness of May; That less brilliant the visions of pleasure appear, As the shadows of ev'ning approach and draw near, LINES ADDRESSED TO A LADY. Tho' many gay winters, (oh! banish that frown,) Have elaps'd since the follies we knew of this town! Since you Which might fire the most stoical bosom with joy. Still pursue the gay scenes of your once verdant prime, And arrest by your toilet the march of old Time; For believe the stern moralist's oft-quoted page, (Forgotten thro' youth but remember'd in age ;) "Your complaints, ye fond vot'ries of pleasure give o'er, "And forbear lovely Woman's brief reign to deplore; "Had duration been granted to Beauty and Love, "In Olympus, the Gods would retain them above.” 25 26 26 LINES ADDRESSED TO A LADY. As creation must then with their mandate comply, His daughter, whose charms were extoll'd far and wide, Of some profligate "Roué" becomes the fair bride ; 66 My Lady" turns Saint, or coquets with the Muse, And the next dissolution, his borough will lose; While his sprightly young heir with the keeper drinks ale, Crown'd by laurels Olympic, for driving the mail; At Newmarket and Ascot, unrivall'd his name, And he shines a Lothario of Marybone fame. Next observe some fair dame in the paths of high life, A prey to each petty vexation and strife; If detain❜d "malgre lui" at the old Gothic hall, By a Duchess o'er-look'd at a dinner or ball; LINES ADDRESSED TO A LADY. Her poodle is dying, and oh! cruel fate, The carriage is broke-or her milliner late ; The "Soubrette"-she once favour'd, elopes in disgrace, Or the faithful old Butler she cannot unplace; While her long blazon'd " Féte" is by accident crost, "Or how many in anguish descend to the grave ; 66 Reflect, oh! reflect, on each tropical clime, "The gloomy abode of oppression and crime; "Is compell'd in the Harem each wrong to endure ; 66 (Of all blessings the greatest, derived from above.) "The arabesque floor and the fountain's soft spray, 27 |