The Poetical Works of the Right Hon. George Granville, Lord Lansdowne/2
VERSES
SENT TO THE AUTHOR IN HIS RETIREMENT.
Written by Mrs. Elizabeth Higgons.
I.
Why, Granville! is thy life to ſhades confin’d?
Thou whom the gods deſign’d
In public to do credit to mankind?
Why ſleeps the noble ardour of thy blood,
Which from thy anceſtors ſo many ages paſt,5
From Rollo down to Bevil flow’d,
And then appear’d again at laſt
In thee, when thy victorious lance[1]
Bore the diſputed prize from all the youth of France.
II.
In the firſt trials which are made for fame,10
Thoſe to whom Fate ſucceſs denies,
If, taking counſel from their ſhame,
They modeſtly retreat, are wiſe:
But why ſhould you, who ſtill ſucceed,
Whether with graceful art you lead15
The fiery barb, or with as graceful motion tread
In ſhining balls, where all agree
To give the higheſt praiſe to thee?
Such harmony in ev’ry motion ’s found
As art could ne’er expreſs by any ſound.20
III.
So lov’d and prais’d, whom all admire,
Why, why ſhould you from courts and camps retire?
Is Mira is unkind, if it can be
That any nymph can be unkind to thee,
Is, penſive made by love, you thus retire,25
Awake your Muſe, and ſtring your lyre;
Your tender ſong and your melodious ſtrain
Can never be addreſs’d in vain;
She needs muſt love, and we ſhall have you back again.29
- ↑ At a carouſal at Paris, in the year 1689.