[Page 202]

SWEETNESS:

AN ODE.

INSCRIBED TO CLEORA.

Frons mitior aspici,
Innubique nitens are meridies.
CASIM. lib. I. od. xvii.
1 OF damask cheeks, and radiant eyes,
2 Let other poets tell;
3 Within the bosom of the fair,
4 Superior beauties dwell.
5 There all the sprightly powers of wit
6 In blithe assemblage play;
7 There every social virtue sheds
8 Its intellectual ray.
[Page 203]
9 But, as the sun's refulgent light
10 Heaven's wide expanse refines,
11 With sovereign lustre, through the soul,
12 Celestial Sweetness shines.
13 This mental beam dilates the heart,
14 And sparkles in the face;
15 It harmonizes every thought,
16 And heightens every grace.
17 One glimpse can sooth the troubled breast,
18 The heaving sigh restrain;
19 Can make the bed of sickness please,
20 And stop the sense of pain.
21 Its power can charm the savage heart,
22 The tyrant's pity move;
23 To smiles convert the wildest rage,
24 And melt the soul to love.
25 When Sweetness beams upon the throne,
26 In majesty benign,
27 The awful splendors of a crown
28 With milder lustre shine.
29 In scenes of poverty and woe,
30 Where melancholy dwells,
31 The influence of this living ray
32 The dreary gloom dispels.
[Page 204]
33 Thus, when the blooming spring returns,
34 To chear the mournful plains,
35 Through earth and air, with genial warmth,
36 Etherial mildness reigns.
37 Beneath its bright, auspicious beams,
38 No boisterous passions rise;
39 Moroseness quits the peaceful scene,
40 And baleful Discord flies.
41 A thousand nameless beauties spring,
42 A thousand virtues glow;
43 A smiling train of Joys appear,
44 And endless blessings flow.
45 Unbounded Charity displays
46 Her sympathizing charms;
47 And Friendship's pure seraphic flame
48 The generous bosom warms.
49 Almighty Love exerts his power,
50 And spreads, with secret art,
51 A soft sensation through the frame,
52 A transport through the heart.
53 Nor shall the storms of age, which cloud
54 Each gleam of sensual joy;
55 And blast the gaudy flowers of Pride,
56 These blest effects destroy.
[Page 205]
57 When that fair form shall sink in years,
58 And all those graces fly;
59 The beauty of thy heavenly mind
60 Shall length of days defy.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): SWEETNESS: AN ODE.
Themes: virtue; vice
Genres: address
References: DMI 25477

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. III. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 202-205. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1136; OTA K093079.003) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.790].)

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