1304.) ( 
ORIGINAL POETRY. . he 
vy 
a 
To G. D. 
‘THY letter, much efteemed friend, 
Careful I read from end toend ; 
But that th’ addrefs I fail’d to view, 
However ftrange, is tridtly true; 
And now that I perceive its ftyle, 
In truth it moved me toa {mile : 
Titles I value nota jot, 
Like others who pofiets them not 5 
To thofe whe boaft of honour old, 
If they deferve the rank they hold, 
Pll give them with refpeé full fraught, 
And keep my diftance as I ought. 
And fuch as thefe diftin@tions flight, 
Whether I think them wrong or right, 
Tl call them Tom, or George, or Ben, 
Or any thing but Citizen. 
An honeft man, fo Pope would fing, 
Js often nobler than a king: 
That thou this title may’ft receive, 
Friend, verily 1 do believe. 
Yet much I dread all innovations, 
Changes, /oi-difant reformations, 
Which mend as botching tinkers do, 
And where they find one flaw, leave two. 
I love old times, old cuftoms, manners, 
Old Hofpitality’s old banners 5 
Old friends I ne’er would leave?’ th’ lurch, 
No, nor anold Eftablith’d Church 3 
Ob, how I love oid trees that grew 
Where firft my infant-breath I drew ! 
The fycamore with loving mate, 
‘That twin’d each other o’erthe gate ; 
The plats beneath the {preading fhade 
Of fifter mulberries, where we play’d 5 
Where we caught frogs, and fought the 
fruit, 
Or pluck’d up daifes by the root, 
Or ftript th’ old trees of leafy milk, 
Forartift-wormsthat wrought us fill: 
Old was the manfion,* paffing fair, 
Oueen Befs had been an inmate there 5 
Compton did thence, with youthful fire 
Steal Spencer’st heirefs from her fire ; 
A baker’s baflket fafe convey’d 
To the bold fwain the trembling maid : 
The Queen the parties reconcil’d, 
And anfwer'd for the firft-.born child. 
* Canbury, newly baptized Canonbury- 
houfe. 
+ Created Lord Northampton by Queen 
Elizabeth, 
f Sir john Spencer, who made a large for- 
tune by monopolizing currants: hence. fome 
have fuppofed that the original name of the 
manfion was Currant berry Houfe. Others, 
that the Archbifhop of Cambray, when Nun- 
cio from the Pope, refided there, and thence 
it was called.Cambray, eafily corrupted inte 
Canbury-houfe. 
There Goldfmith thought and wroteat eafey 
And there I play’d about his Enees, 
Ah, ftill in Fancy’s eyes are feen 
The ftately elms that form’d its fereen s 
Where my good grandfire, lov’d and ble, 
Watch’d the old magpies build their neft © 
Or mark’d, in diftance jutt defcried, 
The {mall white veffels froothly glide g 
As hills, half rob’d’in ether blue, 
Pointed old Thames’s courfe toview. 
Oh cherith’d fpot ! no more thine air 
Is fragrant, or thy profpedts fair ! 
O’erbuilt, o’ergrpwn, with vicious tafte 
And modern ornament difgrac’ds 
Long fince thefe elms were proftrate laid, 
And vanith’d Long thy mulberries’ thade, 
With every pleafing trace exil’d, 
That once delighted me a child.— 
Buthow my Mufe has rov’daftray, 
(The Mufes were old maids they fay }— 
Then to the point, and Ill conélude, 
Nor longer on thy time intrude. 
Think not, Ipray thee, that my plan ig 
Atall to crofs thy harmlefs fancies 5 
The title of thy friend I claim, 
And call me fimply by my name. 
He AT BE. A. L.Nw—one, 
a 
NEW-YEAR’s EVE. 
A MUSIC, as of bells, falutes the ear, 
And mingled with the Tavy’s troubled 
ftream, 5 
Tolling the knell of the departing year, 
Whofe folemn retrofpedt is but a dream. 
Farewel! ye days of vernal love and eafe, 
Regal’d with fongs of birds within- the 
how’rs3 
Where Peace with Plenty crown’d the fum- 
mer feas, 
And Toil rejoic’d, like bees, among the 
flowr’s. .. 
Farewel ! ye nights of filent {weet repofe, 
Now broken by the horrid din of war 5 
While to the Moon no amoreus defcant flows, 
’ No lovers whifper to the Evening-ftar. 
Tho? War and Winter riot in the air, 
And clouds and ftorms inveft our native 
ifle, 
Love in thine eyes for ever dwells, my fair ' 
Peace, with her train of Graces, in thy 
 {mile. 
QO! for the blifs, when fummer crowns the 
{pring, 
Thy lap with fruits, with flowers to deck thy 
brow 5 
And through the year around thy couch te 
‘fing, he 
Blithe asthe bird that warbles on the bough, 
W. EvANS. 
A COMPARISON. 
