[Page 67]

TO JAMES BARRY, ESQ.

ON THE DESIGN OF HIS SERIES OF PICTURES PAINTED FOR THE SOCIETY INSTITUTED FOR THE PROMOTING ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.

1 O Thou, who in a weak disjointed age
2 Dar'st in the cause of science to engage,
3 May fame and honour crown thy bold design,
4 And olive wreaths thy victor-brows entwine.
5 High above envy may thy name be plac'd,
6 A roman spirit with true attic taste.
7 Born to achieve a glory of thy own,
8 To rise unaided, and to shine alone;
9 Thy genius takes its elevated stand
10 Above the level of thy native land,
11 Grasping at once beyond the world's controul,
12 The painter's fancy, and the poet's soul;
13 Reflection guided by thy mimic power,
14 Commands whole ages in one fleeting hour.
[Page 68]
15 From Thrace to Britain marks the rising beam
16 Of slow progressive arts o'er time's still flowing stream.
17 'Tis thine to bear us to those bless'd abodes
18 Where virtue and desert approach the gods;
19 Where beings of free thought and kindred mould
20 Unfading intercourse of friendship hold,
21 And the pure, endless, universal mind,
22 Beams in benevolence on human kind;
23 There, plac'd by judgment in the fairest light,
24 Each excellence appears distinctly bright;
25 Divine philosophy, the muse's art,
26 What forms the mind, what purifies the heart;
27 All that can touch the soul with living fire,
28 The love of honest fame, or elegant desire.
29 May some more favour'd bard thy work rehearse,
30 With all the energy of Pindar's verse;
31 While I, constrain'd to droop the trembling wing,
32 Rejoice in triumphs, I despair to sing;
33 And mark well pleas'd thy genius in its rise,
34 Thro' envious clouds, to clear untroubled skies.

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Title (in Source Edition): TO JAMES BARRY, ESQ. ON THE DESIGN OF HIS SERIES OF PICTURES PAINTED FOR THE SOCIETY INSTITUTED FOR THE PROMOTING ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
Author: Anne Hunter (née Home)
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Genres: address

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Hunter, Anne Home (Mrs. John), 1742-1821. Poems, by Mrs. John Hunter. London: Printed for T. Payne, Mews Gate, by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 1802, pp. 67-68.  (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [280 e.4058].)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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.

Other works by Anne Hunter (née Home)