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To Almystrea.

1.
1 PErmit Marissa in an artless Lay
2 To speak her Wonder, and her Thanks repay:
3 Her creeping Muse can ne'er like yours ascend;
4 She has not Strength for such a towring Flight.
5 Your Wit, her humble Fancy do's transcend;
6 She can but gaze at your exalted Height:
7 Yet she believ'd it better to expose
8 Her Failures, than ungrateful prove;
9 And rather chose
10 To shew a want of Sense, than want of Love:
11 But taught by you, she may at length improve,
12 And imitate those Virtues she admires.
13 Your bright Example leaves a Tract Divine,
14 She sees a beamy Brightness in each Line,
15 And with ambitious Warmth aspires,
16 Attracted by the Glory of your Name,
17 To follow you in all the lofty Roads of Fame.
2.
18 Merit like yours, can no Resistance find,
19 But like a Deluge overwhelms the Mind;
20 Gives full Possession of each Part,
21 Subdues the Soul, and captivates the Heart.
22 Let those whom Wealth, or Interest unite,
23 Whom Avarice, or Kindred sway
24 Who in the Dregs of Life delight;
25 And ev'ry Dictate of their Sense obey,
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26 Learn here to love at a sublimer Rate,
27 To wish for nothing but exchange of Thoughts,
28 For intellectual Joys,
29 And Pleasures more refin'd
30 Than Earth can give, or Fancy can create.
31 Let our vain Sex be fond of glitt'ring Toys,
32 Of pompous Titles, and affected Noise,
33 Let envious Men by barb'rous Custom led
34 Descant on Faults,
35 And in Detraction find
36 Delights unknown to a brave gen'rous Mind,
37 While we resolve a nobler Path to tread,
38 And from Tyrannick Custom free,
39 View the dark Mansions of the mighty Dead,
40 And all their close Recesses see;
41 Then from those awful Shades retire,
42 And take a Tour above,
43 And there, the shining Scenes admire,
44 Th' Opera of eternal Love;
45 View the Machines, on the bright Actors gaze,
46 Then in a holy Transport, blest Amaze,
47 To the great Author our Devotion raise,
48 And let our Wonder terminate in Praise.

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Title (in Source Edition): To Almystrea.
Author: Lady Mary Chudleigh
Themes:
Genres: address

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Chudleigh, Mary Lee, 1656-1710. Poems on several occasions. Together with the Song of the three children paraphras'd. By the Lady Chudleigh. London: Printed by W.B. for Bernard Lintott at the Middle Temple Gate in Fleetstreet, 1703, pp. 21-22. [16],125,[17],73,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T97275) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 j.452].)

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