[Page 223]
On Sir ROBERT WALPOLE'S Birth-day, AUGUST the 26th.
1 ALL hail, auspicious day, whose wish'd return
2 Bids every breast with grateful ardor burn,
[Page 224]3 While pleas'd Britannia that great man surveys
4 The Prince may trust, and yet the People praise:
5 One bearing greatest toils with greatest ease,
6 One born to serve us, and yet born to please;
7 His soul capacious, yet his judgment clear,
8 His tongue is flowing, and his heart sincere:
9 His counsels guide, his temper cheers our isle,
10 And smiling gives three kingdoms cause to smile.
11 August, how bright thy golden scenes appear,
12 Thou fairest daughter of the various year,
13 On thee the sun with all his ardor glows,
14 On thee in dowry all its fruits bestows,
15 The greatest Prince, the foremost son of fame,
16 To thee bequeath'd the glories of his name;
17 Nature and Fortune thee their darling chose,
18 Nor could they grace thee more, 'till Walpole rose.
19 By steps to mighty things Fate makes her way,
20 The sun and Caesar but prepar'd this day.
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About this text
Themes:
birthday; politics
Genres:
heroic couplet; occasional poem
References:
DMI 25790
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Source edition
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. IV. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 223-224. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.004) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
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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.