[Page 32]

[Inscription] IV.

1 O YOUTHS and virgins: O declining eld:
2 O pale misfortune's slaves: O ye who dwell
3 Unknown with humble quiet; ye who wait
4 In courts, or fill the golden seat of kings:
5 O sons of sport and pleasure: O thou wretch
6 That weep'st for jealous love, or the sore wounds
7 Of conscious guilt, or death's rapacious hand
8 Which left thee void of hope: O ye who roam
9 In exile; ye who through the embattled field
10 Seek bright renown; or who for nobler palms
11 Contend, the leaders of a public cause;
12 Approach: behold this marble. Know ye not
13 The features? Hath not oft his faithful tongue
[Page 33]
14 Told you the fashion of your own estate,
15 The secrets of your bosom? Here then, round
16 His monument with reverence while ye stand,
17 Say to each other: "Thi was Shakespear's form;
18 "Who walk'd in every path of human life,
19 "Felt every passion; and to all mankind
20 "Doth now, will ever that experience yield
21 "Which his own genius only could acquire."

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): [Inscription] IV.
Author: Mark Akenside
Themes: poetry; literature; writing; fame
Genres: blank verse; inscription
References: DMI 27807

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. VI. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 32-33. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.006) (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.