To Mrs. Montagu.

While, bending at thy honour'd shrine, the Muse
    Pours, MONTAGU, to thee her votive strain,
Thy heart will not her simple notes refuse,
    Or chill her timid soul with cold disdain.

O might a transient spark of genius fire
    The fond effusions of her fearful youth;
Then should thy virtues live upon her lyre,
    And give to harmony the charm of truth.

Vain wish! they ask not the imperfect lay,
    The weak applause her trembling accents breathe;
With whose pure radiance glory blends her ray,
    Whom fame has circled with her fairest wreathe.

Thou, who while seen with graceful step to tread
    Grandeur's enchanted round, can'st meekly pause
To rend the veil obscurity had spread
    Where his lone sigh deserted Genius draws;

To lead his drooping spirit to thy fane,
    Where attic joy the social circle warms;
Where science loves to pour her hallow'd strain,
    Where wit, and wisdom, blend their sep'rate charms.

And lure to cherish intellectual powers,
    To bid the vig'rous tides of genius roll,
Unfold, in fair expansion, fancy's flowers,
    And wake the latent energies of soul;

Far other homage claims than flatt'ry brings
    The little triumphs of the proud to grace:
For deeds like these a purer incense springs,
    Warm from the swelling heart its source we trace!

Yet not to foster the rich gifts of mind
    Alone can all thy lib'ral cares employ;
Not to the few those gifts adorn, confin'd,
    They spread an ampler sphere of genuine joy.

While pleasure's lucid star illumes thy bower,
    Thy pity views the distant storm that bends
Where want unshelter'd wastes the ling'ring hour; -
    And meets the blessing that to heav'n ascends!

For this, while fame thro' each successive age
    On her exulting lip thy name shall breathe;
While woman, pointing to thy finish'd page,
    Claims from imperious man the critic wreathe;

Truth on her spotless record shall enroll
    Each moral beauty to her spirit dear;
Paint in bright characters each grace of soul -
    While admiration pours a gen'rous tear.

Helen Maria Williams

Helen Maria Williams was an English poet, novelist, translator, and abolitionist known for her support of the French Revolution. She made significant contributions to literature through her poems and novels, highlighting issues of her time such as gender equality and political justice. Her works were praised for their emotional depth and social commentary. She was also an influential figure in the abolitionist movement, championing the cause of ending slavery.

Helen Maria Williams

An Epistle To Dr. Moore.

Helen Maria Williams, Simple Poetry

Paraphrases From Scripture. PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17.

Helen Maria Williams, Simple Poetry

Paraphrases From Scripture. MATT. vii. 12.

Helen Maria Williams, Simple Poetry

An American Tale.

Helen Maria Williams, Simple Poetry

English

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To Sensibility.

In Sensibility's lov'd praise
    I tune my trembling reed;
And seek to deck her shrine with bays,
    On which my heart must bleed!

No cold exemption from her pain
    I ever wish'd to know;
Cheer'd with her transport, I sustain
    Without complaint her woe.

Above whate'er content can give,
    Above the charm of ease,
The restless hopes, and fears that live
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Where but for her, were Friendship's power
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To shorten sorrow's ling'ring hour,
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'Tis she that lights the melting eye
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Helen Maria Williams

An Ode On The Peace.

I.

    As wand'ring late on Albion's shore
        That chains the rude tempestuous deep,
    I heard the hollow surges roar
        And vainly beat her guardian steep;
I heard the rising sounds of woe
    Loud on the storm's wild pinion flow;
And still they vibrate on the mournful lyre,
That tunes to grief its sympathetic wire.


II.

    From shores the wide Atlantic laves,
        The spirit of the ocean bears
    In moans, along his western waves,
        Afflicted nature's hopeless cares:
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    How chang'd since first ye rose to sight;
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III.

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Helen Maria Williams

Epistle To Elizabeth Countesse Of Rutland

Madame,

VVhil'st that, for which all vertue now is sold,
And almost every vice, almightie gold,
That which, to boote with hell, is thought worth heaven,
And for it, life, conscience, yea soules are given,
Toyles, by grave custome, up and downe the Court,
To every squire, or groome, that will report
Well, or ill, only, all the following yeere,
Just to the waight their this dayes-presents beare;
While it makes huishers serviceable men,
And some one apteth to be trusted, then,
Though never after; whiles it gaynes the voyce
Of some grand peere, whose ayre-doth make rejoyce
The foole that gave it; who will want, and weepe,
When his proud patrons favours are asleepe;
While thus it buyes great grace, and hunts poore fame;
Runs betweene man, and man, 'tweene, da...

Ben Jonson

Epistle To Mr Jervas, With Mr Dryden's Translation Of Fresnoy's 'Art Of Painting.'

This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse
This from no venal or ungrateful Muse.
Whether thy hand strike out some free design,
Where life awakes, and dawns at every line;
Or blend in beauteous tints the colour'd mass,
And from the canvas call the mimic face:
Read these instructive leaves, in which conspire
Fresnoy's close art, and Dryden's native fire:
And, reading, wish like theirs our fate and fame,
So mix'd our studies, and so join'd our name;
Like them to shine through long succeeding age,
So just thy skill, so regular my rage.

Smit with the love of sister-arts we came,
And met congenial, mingling flame with flame;
Like friendly colours found them both unite,
And each from each contract new strength and light.
How oft in pleasing tasks we wear ...

Alexander Pope

To John Milton "From His Honoured Friend, William Davenant"

Poet of mighty power, I fain
Would court the muse that honoured thee,
And, like Elisha's spirit, gain
A part of thy intensity;
And share the mantle which she flung
Around thee, when thy lyre was strung.

Though faction's scorn at first did shun
With coldness thy inspired song,
Though clouds of malice passed thy sun,
They could not hide it long;
Its brightness soon exhaled away
Dank night, and gained eternal day.

The critics' wrath did darkly frown
Upon thy muse's mighty lay;
But blasts that break the blossom down
Do only stir the bay;
And thine shall flourish, green and long,
With the eternity of song.

Thy genius saw, in quiet mood,
Gilt fashion's follies pass thee by,
And, like the monarch of the wood,
Towered oer it ...

John Clare

To My Honoured Friend Sir Robert Howard,[1] On His Excellent Poems.

    As there is music uninform'd by art
    In those wild notes, which, with a merry heart,
    The birds in unfrequented shades express,
    Who, better taught at home, yet please us less:
    So in your verse a native sweetness dwells,
    Which shames composure, and its art excels.
    Singing no more can your soft numbers grace,
    Than paint adds charms unto a beauteous face.
    Yet as, when mighty rivers gently creep,
    Their even calmness does suppose them deep;
    Such is your muse: no metaphor swell'd high
    With dangerous boldness lifts her to the sky:
    Those mounting fancies, when they fall again,
    Show sand and dirt at bottom do remain.
    So firm a strength, and yet withal so sweet,
    Did never but in Samson's riddle meet.
    'Tis...

John Dryden