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VERSES ON SEEING THE TRAGEDY OF THE REGENT
* Mr. B. being just landed from a long and stormy passage from abroad, wrote five lines to his Mother, and retired to rest. On rising to eat his dinner at a miserable inn, he asked, If they had any book in the house.Some one replied, A gentleman had gone away, and left a play-book behind him.Mr. B. desired to see it; it entered with his dinner, which he left to take care of itself until he had finished that charming piece. He unlocked his writing-box, wrote the following lines, sealed and sent them off by post, then ate his dinner. Mr. B. sometimes said, when shewing them to his friends, I do not suppose that Mr. Greathead ever knew from whom he received them.A lady of very high rank and very cultivated mind once asked Mr. B.'s Mother Whether early friendship had not led Mr. B. to see the Regent with such very partial eyes.Mrs. B. replied, That she believed her son was not at all acquainted with Mr. G.; but that, had she been a poet, she would have said as much as her son had done.
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TO BERTIE GREATHEAD, ESQ.

1 AWAKE, ye Nymphs of Avon's stream,
2 Of Shakspeare's verse the fav'rite theme;
3 No more within that sparry cave,
4 Whose mouth Avonia's waters lave;
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5 On coral beds in grief recline,
6 But round your brows the laurel twine;
7 Again by Cynthia's pallid beam,
8 Be seen amid the glassy stream;
9 O chaunt again that Doric strain,
10 Ye learn'd of Avon's tuneful swain;
11 And with you bring the breathing lute,
12 For ages lost, for ages mute,
13 That Genius erst on him bestow'd,
14 Whose pictur'd breast with fancy glow'd;
15 For wak'd by notes that oft have charm'd,
16 Again by hallow'd frenzy warm'd.
17 Hark! Echo quits her mossy bed,
18 And scarce believes her Shakspeare dead;
19 Again, by Avon's silver stream
20 A Bard resumes great Nature's theme;
21 Spurning the rules of sordid art,
22 Guided but by a feeling heart;
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23 From Nature's self the picture draws,
24 Confin'd by none but Nature's laws;
25 To Fancy's realm the daring wight
26 On eagle wing pursues his flight;
27 And wand'ring blest those bow'rs among,
28 Where Shakspeare's self unrival'd sung;
29 As straying 'mid the holy wood,
30 For you, fair sisters of the flood;
31 A blooming wreath behold him twine,
32 A wreath immortal and divine.

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Title (in Source Edition): VERSES ON SEEING THE TRAGEDY OF THE REGENT. TO BERTIE GREATHEAD, ESQ.
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Genres: occasional poem

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Berkeley, George Monck, 1763-1793. Poems: by the late George-Monck Berkeley, Esq. ... With a preface by the editor, consisting of some anecdotes of Mr. Monck Berkeley and several of his friends. London: printed by J. Nichols; and sold by Messrs. Leigh and Sotheby; Mr. Edwards; Mr. Cooke, Oxford; Mr. Todd, York; Messrs. Simmons and Co.; Messrs. Flackton, Marrable, and Claris; and Mr. Bristow, Canterbury, 1797, pp. 45-47. viii,DCXXXII,212p.,plate: port.; 4⁰. (ESTC T142950; OTA K111746.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)

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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.

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