POETICAL WORKS

OF

WILL. SHENSTONE.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

WITH THE LIFE OE THE AUTHOR,

AND
A DESCRIPTION OF THE LEASOWES.

VIRG.

IMITATION.

Sæpe ego longos
Cantando puerum memini me condere soles.

-Right well I call to mind
When (yet a boy) whole suns and lengthen'd days
I oft' employ'd in chanting sylvan lays.

Yet while he woo'd the gentle throng,
With liquid lay and melting song,
The list'oing herd around him stray'd,
Io wanton frisk the lambkins play'd,
And every Naiad ceas'd to lave
Ker azure limbs amid the wave :
The Graces canc'd; the rosy band
Of Smiles and Loves went hand in hand,
And purple Pleasures strew'd the way
With sweetest flow's; and every ray
of each fond Muse with rapture fir'd,
To glowing thughts his breast ir’spir'd;
The hills rejoic'd, the vallies.rung,
All Nature smil'd while SHEAS ONE sung.

VERSES by ----

VOL. I.

LONDON:
PRINTED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOHN BELL,

BRITISH LIBRARY, STRAND,
BOOKSELLER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES,

1793•

POETICAL WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHENSTONE.

VOL. I.

CONTAINING HIS

ELEGIES,

&c. &c. &c.

Ill was he skill'a to guide his wand'ring sheep,
And unforeseen disaster thinn'd his fold,
Yet at another's loss the swain would weep,
And for his friend his very crook was sold..---
He lov'd the Muse; she taught him to complain;
He saw his tim'rous loves on her depend :
He lov'd the Muse, altho' she taught in vain;
He lov'd the Muse, for she was Virtue's friend------
He wish'd for wealth, for much he wish'd to give ;
He griev'd that virtue might not wealth obtain :
Piteous of woes, and hopeless to relieve,
The pensive prospect sadden'd all his strain.
I saw him faint! 1 saw him sink to rest!
Like one ordain'd to swell the vulgar throng;
As tho' the Virtues had not warm'd his breast,
As tho' the Muses not inspir'd his tongue. ELEGY III.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR JOHN BELL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS

KOYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES,

A

Siddes Family
4.29-32 PREFACE.

GREAT part of the Poetical Works of Mr. Shenstone, particularly his Elegies and Pastorals, are (as he himself expresses it) “ the exact transcripts of "the situation of his own mind,” and abound in free quent allusions to his own place, the beautiful scene of his retirement from the world. Exclusively, therefore, of our natural curiosity to be acquainted with the history of an author whose Works we peruse with pleasure, some short account of Mr. Shenstone's personal character, and situation in life, may not only be agreeable, but absolutely necessary to the reader, as it is impossible he should enter into the true spirit of his writings, if he is entirely ignorant of those circumstances of his life which sometimes so greatly influenced his reflections.

I could wish, however, that this task had been allotted to some person capable of performing it in that masterly manner which the subject so well deserves, To confess the truth, it was chiefly to prevent his Remains from falling into the hands of

any one still less qualified to do him justice, that I have

unwillingly ventured to undertake the publication to of them myself.

Mr. Shenstone was the eldest son of a plain uneducated gentleman in Shropshire, who farmed his

own estate. The father, sensible of his son's exstraordinary capacity, resolved to give him a learned

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