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* The goddess of Indolence.
VACUNA.

1 SCEPTRE of ease! whose calm domain extends
2 O'er the froze Chronian, or where lagging gales
3 Fan to repose the Southern realms. O! whom
4 More slaves obey than swarm about the courts
5
f The capital of China.
Pekin, or
g The capital of the Mogul's country, lately plunder'd by T. Kouli Kan.
Agra universal queen!
6 Me hap'ly slumb'ring all a summer's day,
7 Thy meanest subject, often hast thou deign'd
8 Gracious to visit. If thy poppy then
9 Was e'er infus'd into my gifted quill,
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10 If e'er my nodding Muse was blest with pow'r,
11 To doze the reader with her opiate verse
12 Come, goddess; but be gentle; not as when
13 On studious heads attendant thou art seen
14 Fast by the twinkling lamp, poring and pale
15 Immers'd in meditation, sleep's great foe?
16 Where the clue-guided casuist unwinds
17 Perplexities; or Halley from his tower
18 Converses with the stars: In other guize
19 Thy presence I invoke. Serene approach,
20 With forehead smooth, and sauntring gait; put on
21 The smile unmeaning, or in sober mood
22 Fix thy flat, musing, leaden eye: as looks
23 Simplicius, when he stares and seems to think.
24 Prompted by thee, Reservo keeps at home,
25 Intent on books: he when alone applies
26 The needle's reparation to his hose,
27 Or studious slices paper. Taught by thee
28 Dullman takes snuff, and ever and anon
29 Turns o'er the page unread. Others more sage,
30 Place, year, and printer not unnoted, well
31 Examine the whole frontispiece, and if
32 Yet stricter their enquiry, e'en proceed
33 To leaves within, and curious there select
34 Italicks, or consult the margin, pleas'd
35 To find a hero or a tale: all else,
36 The observation, maxim, inference
37 Disturb the brain with thought It sure were long
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38 To name thy sev'ral vot'ries, Pow'r supine,
39 And all thy various haunts. Why should I speak
40 Of coffee-house? or where the eunuch plays,
41 Or Roscius in his buskin? These and more
42 Thy crowded temples, where thou sit'st enshrin'd
43 Glorious, thy incense ambergris, and time
44 Thy sacrifice. About thee cards and dice
45 Lie scatter'd, and a thousand vassal beaux
46 Officiate at thy worship. Nor mean while
47 Is solitude less thy peculiar sphere;
48 There unattended you vouchsafe to shroud
49 Your beauties, gentle Potentate; with me
50 By vale or brook to loiter not displeas'd:
51 Hear the stream's pebbled roar, and the sweet bee
52 Humming her fairy-tunes, in praise of flowers;
53 Or clam'rous rooks, on aged elm or oak,
54 Aloft the cawing legislators sit,
55 Debating, in full senate, points of state.
56 My bower, my walks, my study all are thine,
57 For thee my yews project their shade: my green
58 Spreads her soft lap, my waters whisper sleep.
59 Here thou may'st reign secure, nor hostile thought,
60 Nor argument, nor logick's dire array
61 Make inroad on thy kingdom's peace. What tho'
62 Malicious tongues me harmless represent,
63 A traitor to thy throne: or that I hold
64 Forbidden correspondence with the Nine,
65 Plotting with Phoebus, and thy foes! What tho'
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66 Of satire they impeach me, strain severe!
67 Thou know'st my innocence: 'tis true indeed
68 I sometimes scribble, but 'tis thou inspir'st:
69 In proof accept, O goddess, this my verse.

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Title (in Source Edition): VACUNA.
Author: Sneyd Davies
Themes: poetry; literature; writing
Genres: blank verse
References: DMI 23411

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Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 95-98. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.005) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.