To Mr. WHITEHEAD, On his being made POET LAUREAT. Richard Owen Cambridge Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T131163 K104099.006 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. 309-310. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

This e-text is part of the Works section of the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

XML created for the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

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 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.

Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; text-align: right; text-align: left; display: inline font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
To Mr. WHITEHEAD , On his being made POET LAUREAT . By the Same . 'TIS so — tho' we're surpriz'd to hear it : The laurel is bestow'd on merit . How hush'd is ev'ry envious voice ! Confounded by so just a choice , Tho' by prescriptive right prepar'd To libel the selected bard . But as you see the statesman's fate In this our democratic state , Whom virtue strives in vain to guard From the rude pamphlet and the card ; You'll find the demagogues of Pindus In envy not a jot behind us : For each Aonian politician ( Whose element is opposition , ) Will shew how greatly they surpass us , In gall and wormwood at Parnassus . Thus as the same detracting spirit Attends on all distinguish'd merit , When 'tis your turn , observe , the quarrel Is not with you , but with the laurel . Suppose that laurel on your brow , For cypress chang'd , funereal bough ! See all things take a diff'rent turn ! The very critics sweetly mourn , And leave their satire's pois'nous sting In plaintive elegies to sing : With solemn threnody and dirge Conduct you to Elysium's verge . At Westminster the surplic'd dean The sad but honorable scene Prepares . The well-attended herse Bears you amid the kings of verse . Each rite observ'd , each duty paid , Your fame on marble is display'd , With symbols which your genius suit , The mask , the buskin , and the flute : The laurel crown aloft is hung : And o'er the sculptur'd lyre unstrung Sad allegoric figures leaning — ( How folks will gape to find their meaning ! ) And a long epitaph is spread , Which happy you will never read . But hold — The change is so inviting I own , I tremble while I'm writing . Yet , WHITEHEAD , 'tis too soon to lose you : Let critics flatter or abuse you , O ! teach us , e'er you change the scene To Stygian banks from Hippocrene , How free-born bards should strike the strings , And how a Briton write to kings .