VERSES
to
WILLIAM
SHENSTONE
,
Esq
;
On
receiving
a
Gilt
Pocket-Book
.
1751.
By
Mr.
JAGO
.
THESE
spotless
leaves
,
this
neat
array
Might
well
invite
your
charming
quill
,
In
fair
assemblage
to
display
The
power
of
learning
,
wit
,
and
skill
:
But
since
you
carelessly
refuse
,
And
to
my
pen
the
task
assign
;
O
!
let
your
Genius
guide
my
Muse
,
And
every
vulgar
thought
refine
.
Teach
me
your
best
,
your
best-lov'd
art
,
With
frugal
care
to
store
my
mind
;
In
this
to
play
the
miser's
part
,
And
give
mean
lucre
to
the
wind
:
To
shun
the
coxcomb's
empty
noise
;
To
scorn
the
villain's
artful
mask
;
Nor
trust
gay
pleasure's
fleeting
joys
,
Nor
urge
ambition's
endless
task
.
Teach
me
to
stem
youth's
boisterous
tide
;
To
regulate
its
giddy
rage
;
By
reason's
aid
,
my
barque
to
guide
Into
the
friendly
port
of
age
:
To
share
what
classic
culture
yields
;
Thro'
rhetoric's
painted
meads
to
roam
;
With
you
to
reap
historic
fields
,
And
bring
the
golden
harvest
home
:
To
taste
the
genuine
sweets
of
wit
;
To
quaff
in
humour's
sprightly
bowl
;
The
philosophic
mean
to
hit
,
And
prize
the
dignity
of
soul
.
Teach
me
to
read
fair
Nature's
book
,
Wide-opening
in
each
flowery
plain
;
And
with
judicious
eye
to
look
On
all
the
glories
of
her
reign
.
To
hail
her
seated
on
her
throne
;
By
aweful
woods
encompass'd
round
:
Or
her
divine
extraction
own
,
Tho'
with
a
wreath
of
rushes
crown'd
.
Thro'
arched
walks
,
o'er
spreading
lawns
,
Near
solemn
rocks
,
with
her
to
rove
:
Or
court
her
,
'mid
her
gentle
fauns
,
In
mossy
cell
,
or
maple
grove
.
Whether
the
prospect
strain
the
sight
,
Or
in
the
nearer
landskips
charm
,
Where
hills
,
vales
,
fountains
,
woods
unite
.
To
grace
our
sweet
Arcadian
farm
,
There
let
me
sit
;
and
gaze
with
you
,
On
Nature's
works
by
Art
refin'd
;
And
own
,
while
we
their
contest
view
,
Both
fair
,
but
fairest
,
thus
combin'd
!