Above the clouds is plac’d this glorious light,
Nothing lies hid from her inquiring ſight;
Athens and Rome for arts reſtor’d rejoice,
Their language takes new muſic from her voice.
Learning and Love in the ſame ſeat we find,15
So bright her eyes, and ſo adorn’d her mind.
Long had Minerva govern’d in the ſkies,
But now deſcends confeſs’d to human eyes:
Behold in Granville that inſpiring queen
Whom learned Athens ſo ador’d unſeen.20
TO THE
COUNTESS OF NEWBOURGH,
Inſiſting earneſtly to be told who I meant by Mira.
With Mira’s charms, and my extreme deſpair,
Long had my Muſe amuz’d the reader’s ear,
My friends with pity heard the mournful ſound,
And all inquir’d from whence the fatal wound;
Th’ aſtoniſh’d world beheld an endleſs flame,5
Ne’er to be quench’d, unknowing whence it came:
So ſcatter’d fire from ſcorch’d Veſuvius flies,
Unknown the ſource from whence thoſe flames ariſe.
Egyptian Nile ſo ſpreads its waters round,
O’erflowing far and near, its head unſound.10
Mira herſelf, touch’d with the moving ſong,
Would needs be told to whom thoſe plaints belong;
