[Page 289]

The TREE.

1 FAir Tree! for thy delightful Shade
2 'Tis just that some Return be made:
3 Sure, some Return is due from me
4 To thy cool Shadows, and to thee.
5 When thou to Birds do'st Shelter give,
6 Thou Musick do'st from them receive;
7 If Travellers beneath thee stay,
8 Till Storms have worn themselves away,
9 That Time in praising thee they spend,
10 And thy protecting Pow'r commend:
11 The Shepherd here, from Scorching freed,
12 Tunes to thy dancing Leaves his Reed;
13 Whilst his lov'd Nymph, in Thanks, bestows
14 Her flow'ry Chaplets on thy Boughs.
15 Shall I then only Silent be,
16 And no Return be made by me?
17 No; let this Wish upon thee wait,
18 And still to flourish be thy Fate,
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19 To future Ages may'st thou stand
20 Untouch'd by the rash Workman's hand;
21 'Till that large Stock of Sap is spent,
22 Which gives thy Summer's Ornament;
23 'Till the fierce Winds, that vainly strive
24 To shock thy Greatness whilst alive,
25 Shall on thy lifeless Hour attend,
26 Prevent the Axe, and grace thy End;
27 Their scatter'd Strength together call,
28 And to the Clouds proclaim thy Fall;
29 Who then their Ev'ning-Dews may spare,
30 When thou no longer art their Care;
31 But shalt, like ancient Heroes, burn,
32 And some bright Hearth be made thy Urn.

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Title (in Source Edition): The TREE.
Themes: nature
Genres: thing-poem

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Source edition

Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of, 1661-1720. Miscellany poems, on several occasions: Written by the Right Honble Anne, Countess of Winchilsea. London: printed for J. B. and sold by Benj. Tooke, William Taylor, and James Round, 1713, pp. 289-290. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)

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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.

Other works by Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea