FLORA JEALOUS. 



TO 



DR. THORNTON, 



ON RECEIVING A PRESENT OF SOME BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED PLANTS FROM 



HIS TEMPLE OF FLORA, 



TO DECORATE 



« THE POETS COTTAGE/' 



O for some bow'iy nook, 'midst Nature s scenes 



Of purest blossoms and unsullied greens; 



A still, small, Home that I may call my own, 



My joy, my pride, my palace, and my throne ; 



With yet a dinner, sav'd by frugal care, 



A social platter for a friend to share! 



Thus pray'd the Muse, a Poet's wish to crown — 

 Upon a Poet's wish no Muse can frown ! 

 The pray'r was heard; and soon, by Fancy's aid, 

 A nook was chosen, and a Cot was made. 

 Streams, groves, and gardens, deck'd the smiling bound— 

 A Paradise of sweets — on Fairy ground. 



Quick, Friendship came, with Fortune at his side, 

 To realize the Song and Poet's pride, 

 A bow'ry nook was given* 'midst Nature's scenes 

 Of purest blossoms and unsullied greens. 



* Mr Pratt the admired author of " Sympathy," and other well known poems, excited from his works such lively interest, that as a sub- 

 scription to hi; last production, - Harvest Homer a noble-minded stranger sent him the title deeds of a Cottage, with a piece of ground 



attached to it, near to his own domain. 



" Accept," a generous stranger said,— 



Touchd by the pages he had read, 



" Accept, since you at length have found 



Joy-giving Health on Hampshire ground ; 



Hampshire, where Health delights to reign, 



The Goddess of the Wood and Plain : 



Accept a little sylvan spot, 



Where you may build your Poet's Cot: 



Nay where, already cut and dried, 



A river running close beside, 



With valley low and mountain high, 



And many a capability, 



A Cot you 11 find, which little care 



And no great cost may soon repair : 



That Cot is yours, and garden ground; 



And all the pleasant scene around." 



From p. 104 of Harvest Home. 



My Subscription was as one author to another, which produced unsolicited the present Panegyric on an humble first attempt torije. 

 Temple to Flora— by a Garden of Nature. 



