LINES TO FORTUNE,Occasioned by a very amiable and generous Friend of mine munificently presenting Miss E.S. with a Donation of Fifteen Thousand Pounds.Oh, Fortune! I have seen thee shedA plenteous show’r of treasure downOn many a weak and worthless head,On those who but deserv’d thy frown.And I have heard, in lonely shade,Her sorrows hapless Merit pour;And thou hast pass’d the drooping maid,To give some pamper’d fav’rite more.But tho’ so cold, or strangely wild,It seems that worth can sometimes move;Thou hast on gentle Emma smil’d,And thou hast smil’d where all approve:—For Nature form’d her gen’rous heartWith ev’ry virtue, pure, refin’d;And wit and taste, and grace and art,United to illume her mind.So dew-drops fall on some rare flow’r,That merits all their fost’ring care,As tho’ they knew that, by their pow’r,Grateful ’twould wider scent the air.
Occasioned by a very amiable and generous Friend of mine munificently presenting Miss E.S. with a Donation of Fifteen Thousand Pounds.
Oh, Fortune! I have seen thee shedA plenteous show’r of treasure downOn many a weak and worthless head,On those who but deserv’d thy frown.And I have heard, in lonely shade,Her sorrows hapless Merit pour;And thou hast pass’d the drooping maid,To give some pamper’d fav’rite more.But tho’ so cold, or strangely wild,It seems that worth can sometimes move;Thou hast on gentle Emma smil’d,And thou hast smil’d where all approve:—For Nature form’d her gen’rous heartWith ev’ry virtue, pure, refin’d;And wit and taste, and grace and art,United to illume her mind.So dew-drops fall on some rare flow’r,That merits all their fost’ring care,As tho’ they knew that, by their pow’r,Grateful ’twould wider scent the air.