VERSE S, WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF A GENTLEMAN TO WHOM A LADY HAD GIVEN A SPRIG OF MYRTLE* WHAT hopes, what terrors, does thy gift create? The myrtle (enfign of fupreme command, * These verses were first printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1768, p. 439, but were written many years earlier. Elegant as they are, Dr. Johnson affured me, they were composed in the short space of five minutes. N. To Lady FIREBRACE*, AT BURY ASSIZES. Ar length muft Suffolk beauties fhine in vain, This lady was Bridget, third daughter of Philip Bacon, Efq. of Ipfwich, and relict of Philip Evers, Efq. of that town, She became the second wife of Sir Cordell Firebrace, the last Baronet of that name (to whom the brought a fortune of 25,000 1.), July 26, 1737. Being again left a widow in 1759, she was a third time married, April 7, 1762, to William Campbell, Efq. uncle to the present Duke of Argyle; and died July 3, 1782. To LYCE, AN ELDERLY LADY. YE nymphs whom starry rays invest, Engrofs not all the beams on high, But, as your fifter of the sky, Her filver locks display the moon, Her brows a cloudy show, Strip'd rainbows round her eyes are seen, Her teeth the night with darkness dyes, But fome Zelinda, while I fing, Yet, fpite of fair Zelinda's eye, ON THE DEATH OF Mr. ROBERT LEVET, CONDEMN'D to Hope's delufive mine, Well try'd through many a varying year, Of ev'ry friendless name the friend. Yet Yet ftill he fills Affection's eye, When fainting nature call'd for aid, The pow'r of art without the show. No fummons mock'd by chill delay, groan, His virtues walk'd their narrow round, The bufy day-the peaceful night, Then with no fiery throbbing pain, No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain, And freed his foul the nearest way. EPITAPH ON CLAUDE PHILLIPS, AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN PHILLIPS! whofe touch harmonious could remove "Thefe lines are among Mrs. Williams's Mifcellanies: they are nevertheless recognised as Johnson's in a memorandum of his hand-writing, and were probably written at her request. Phillips was a travelling fidler up and down Wales, and was greatly celebrated for his performance. EPITAPHIUM† IN THOMAM HANMER, BARONETTUM. Honorabilis admodum THOMAS HANMER, Wilhelmi Hanmer armigeri, è Peregrinâ Henrici North De Mildenhall in Com. Suffolcia Baronetti forore et hærede, Filius; Johannis Hanmer de Hanmer Baronetti † At Hanmer church, in Flintshire. Hære |