To THIRSIS, On his signifying his intention to lay aside his Hautboy. Elizabeth Hands (née Herbert) Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T141063 Hands, Elizabeth, 1746-1815. The death of Amnon. A poem. With an appendix: containing pastorals, and other poetical pieces. By Elizabeth Hands. [Coventry] Printed for the author, by N. Rollason, Coventry, M,DCCLXXXIX. 1789 p. 122. [40],127,[1]p.; 8⁰.

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To THIRSIS , On his signifying his intention to lay aside his Hautboy . What spurious offspring of low-thoughted care Assumes the graceful muses winning air , And bids my Thirsis lay aside his reed , That dulness may serenity succeed ; This step still onward her dark purpose brings , For out of dulness , melancholy springs ; Nor here the gloomy phantom ends her care , For next to melancholy , comes despair : When fainting virtue makes her slow retreat , Vice ready stands , to fill the vacant seat . Oft have I seen the swains assembled round , With silent awe , till Thirsis led the sound : Still , as your breath , the cheering pipe inspires , Conduct the voices of the hymning choirs : If thou , their leader and support should'st fail , Slack negligence will o'er the rest prevail ; No more the evenings of the holy-days , Shall send to Heav'n their well-accepted lays ; But giddy youths to vanities shall run , Nay , well if darker scenes of vice they shun .