[Page 240]

INSCRIPTIONS on a Monument to the Memory of a Lady's favourite Bullfinch.

On the Front of the Stone.

Memoriae
Blandientis Volucris
Hunc Lapidem
posuit
D— G—
et hoc
Nobilissimae Luciae
Officii sui
Testimonium
quale quale est
dicavit.
[Page 241]On the Right Side.
1 THE goddesses of wit and love
2 Have patroniz'd the owl and dove;
3 From whose protection both lay claim
4 To immortality and fame:
5 Could wit alone, or beauty, give
6 To birds the same prerogative;
7 My double claim had fate defy'd,
8 And
a Countess of R—d.
LUCY'S fav'rite ne'er had dy'd.
On the Left Side.
1 THO' here my body lies interr'd,
2 I still can be a tell-tale bird;
3 If DAVID should pollute these shades,
4 And wanton with my lady's maids;
5 Or DICK sneak out to field or park,
6 To play with MOPSY in the dark;
7 Or WILL, that noble, generous youth,
8 Should err from wisdom, taste, and truth;
9 And bless'd with all that's fair and good,
10 Should quit a seast for grosser food:
11 I'll rise again a restless sprite,
12 Will haunt my lonely cage by night;
13 There swell my throat and plume my wing,
14 And every tale to LUCY sing.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): INSCRIPTIONS on a Monument to the Memory of a Lady's favourite Bullfinch.
Author: David Garrick
Themes: animals; death
Genres:

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. III. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 240-241. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.003) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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