THE POWER OF FANCY. WRITTEN FOR THE VASE AT BATH-EASTON. Mary Alcock (née Cumberland) 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. T86344 Alcock [née Cumberland], Mary, 1741?–1798. Poems, &c. &c. by the Late Mrs. Mary Alcock [poems only]. London Printed for C. Dilly, Poultry 1799 pp. 94-96. vii,[25],183,[1]p.

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THE POWER OF FANCY . WRITTEN FOR THE VASE AT BATH-EASTON . Fancy , come ! — thou fertile theme , And thy choicest colours spread , Airy phantom , waking dream , Show'r thy odours on my head ! Sweet enchantress , tune my lyre , Gently place me on thy wing , Robe me in thy gay attire , Whilst thy power I strive to sing . Then thy pinions wide expand , Swift pursue thine eagle flight , Guide me with thy magic wand , Bear me past the reach of sight . Waft me thro' those fragrant gales , Which exhale from Pindus' hill , Lead me to those flowery vales , Water'd by Castalia's rill . Give me of that limpid stream , Which the sportive muses sip , So should I that draught esteem Sweet as nectar to my lip . Thence on fam'd Parnassus' mount , Kind conductress , let me light , There would I thy power recount , If to me thou would'st indite . Offering meet I then might bring To the Muse's fav'rite Vase , And to strains melodious sing Carols in the Donor's praise . But me , alas ! no muse inspires , Nor fancy aids , nor sylphs indite , No whispering gales , nor sounding lyres To numbers sweet my pen invite . Yet tho' no laurels I can claim , No plaudits from your circle meet , Still shall it be my humble aim To lay my offerings at your feet .