[Page 313]

Written in Montaigne's Essays, Given to the Duke of Shrewsbury in France, after the Peace, 1713.

1 Dictate, O mighty Judge, what Thou hast seen
2 Of Cities, and of Courts, of Books, and Men;
3 And deign to let Thy Servant hold the Pen.
4 Thro' Ages thus I may presume to live;
5 And from the Transcript of Thy Prose receive,
6 What my own short-liv'd Verse can never give.
7 Thus shall fair Britain with a gracious Smile
8 Accept the Work; and the instructed Isle,
9 For more than Treaties made, shall bless my Toil.
10 Nor longer hence the Gallic Style preferr'd,
11 Wisdom in English Idiom shall be heard;
12 While Talbot tells the World, where Montaigne err'd.

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Title (in Source Edition): Written in Montaigne's Essays, Given to the Duke of Shrewsbury in France, after the Peace, 1713.
Author: Matthew Prior
Themes:
Genres: address

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Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721. Poems on Several Occasions [English poems only]. London: Printed for JACOB TONSON at Shakespear's-Head over against Katharine-Street in the Strand, and JOHN BARBER upon Lambeth-Hill. MDCCXVIII., 1718, p. 313. [42],506,[6]p.: ill.; 2°. (ESTC T075639) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [H 6.8 Art.].)

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