[Page 153]
TO MISS —, ON HER PLAYING UPON THE HARPSICORD IN A ROOM HUNG WITH SOME FLOWER-PIECES OF HER OWN PAINTING.
1 WHEN STELLA strikes the tuneful string
2 In scenes of imitated Spring,
3 Where Beauty lavishes her powers,
4 On beds of never-fading flowers,
5 And Pleasure propagates around
6 Each charm of modulated sound,
7 Ah! think not, in the dangerous hour,
8 The Nymph fictitious, as the flower;
9 But shun, rash youth, the gay alcove,
10 Nor tempt the snares of wily love
11 When charms thus press on every sense,
12 What thought of flight, or of defence?
13 Deceitful Hope, and vain Desire,
14 For ever flutter o'er her lyre,
15 Delighting, as the youth draws nigh,
16 To point the glances of her eye,
[Page 254]17 And forming, with unerring art,
18 New chains to hold the captive heart.
19 But on these regions of delight,
20 Might Truth intrude with daring flight,
21 Could STELLA, sprightly, fair, and young,
22 One moment hear the moral song,
23 Instruction with her flowers might spring,
24 And Wisdom warble from her string.
25 Mark, when from thousand mingled dyes,
26 Thou seest one pleasing form arise,
27 How active light, and thoughtful shade,
28 In greater scenes each other aid;
29 Mark, when the different notes agree
30 In friendly contrariety,
31 How Passion's well-accorded strife,
32 Gives all the harmony of life,
33 Thy pictures shall thy conduct frame,
34 Consistent still, though not the same,
35 Thy musick teach the nobler art
36 To tune the regulated heart.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): TO MISS —, ON HER PLAYING UPON THE HARPSICORD IN A ROOM HUNG WITH SOME FLOWER-PIECES OF HER OWN PAINTING.
Author: Samuel Johnson
Themes:
music; art; painting
Genres:
address
References:
DMI 32599
Text view / Document view
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. 153-254. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1136; OTA K093079.003) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.790].)
Editorial principles
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 Samuel Johnson
- EPITAPH ON CLAUDIUS PHILLIPS. ()
- AN EVENING ODE. TO STELLA. ()
- LONDON: A POEM, In Imitation of the Third SATIRE of JUVENAL. ()
- THE NATURAL BEAUTY. TO STELLA. ()
- AN ODE. ()
- PROLOGUE SPOKEN BY MR. GARRICK, APRIL V. MDCCL. BEFORE THE MASQUE OF COMUS, ACTED AT DRURY-LANE, FOR THE BENEFIT OF MILTON'S GRAND-DAUGHTER. ()
- PROLOGUE SPOKEN BY Mr. GARRICK, At the Opening of the Theatre in Drury-lane 1747. ()
- A SONG. ()
- TO MISS —, ON HER GIVING THE AUTHOR A GOLD AND SILK NETWORK PURSE OF HER OWN WEAVING. ()
- A TRANSLATION OF THE LATIN EPITAPH ON SIR THOMAS HANMER. ()
- The VANITY of HUMAN WISHES. THE Tenth Satire of JUVENAL. IMITATED ()
- THE VANITY OF WEALTH: AN ODE. ()
- THE WINTER's WALK. (); THE WINTER's WALK. ()