to his perfonal character, he is faid to have been a man of gay converfation, at least a temperate lover of wine and company, and in his domeftick relations without cenfure.

****

THE

THE two Poems which follow would have been inferted in the Collection, if the compilers could have obtained copies of them. To complete the poetical works of Tickell, they are here copied from the " Select Collection of Miscellany Poems, 1780."

66

OXFORD, A POEM *,

INSCRIBED TO LORD LONSDALE, 1707.

"Unum opus eft intact Palladis urbem

"Carmine perpetuo celebrare'

Hor. I Od. vii.

WHILST you, my Lord, adorn that stately seat, Where fhining beauty makes her soft retreat, Enjoying all those graces, uncontrol'd,

Which nobleft youths would die but to behold;

Richard, fecond lord vifcount Lonfdale. He died of

the fmall-pox, Dec. 1, 1713. N.

Whilst

Whilft you inhabit Lowther's awful pile,
A ftructure worthy of the founder's toil;
Amaz'd we fee the former * Lonsdale fhine
In each defcendent of his noble line:

But most tranfported and furpriz'd we view
His ancient glories all reviv'd in you,
Where charms and virtues join their equal grace,
Your father's godlike foul, your mother's lovely
face.

Me Fortune and kind Heaven's indulgent care
To fainous Oxford and the Mufes bear,
Where, of all ranks, the blooming youths com-
bine

To pay due homage to the mighty Nine,

And fnatch, with fmiling joy, the laurel crown,
Due to the learned honours of the gown.
Here I, the meanest of the tuneful throng,
Delude the time with an unhallow'd fong,

Sir John Lowther, one of the early promoters of the Revolution, was conftituted vice-chamberlain to King William and Queen Mary on their advancement to the throne; created baron Lowther and viscount Lonfdale May 28, 1696; and appointed lord privy feal in 1699. He died July 19. 1.700. N.

Which thus my thanks to much-lov'd Oxford

Fays,

In no ungrateful, though unartful lays.

Where fhall I first the beauteous fcene difclofe, And all the gay variety expofe?

For wherefoe'er I turn my wondering eyes,
Afpiring towers and verdant groves arife,
Immortal greens the fmiling plains array,
And mazy rivers murmur all the way.

O! might your eyes behold each sparkling dome,

And freely o'er the beauteous profpect roam,
Lefs ravish'd your own Lowther you'd furvey,
Though pomp and state the costly seat display,
Where Art fo nicely has adorn'd the place,

That Nature's aid might feem an useless grace;
Yet Nature's fimiles fuch various charms impart,
That vain and needlefs are the strokes of Art.
In equal state our rising structures fhine,
Fram'd by fuch rules, and form'd by fuch defign,
That here, at once furpriz'd and pleas'd, we
view

Old Athens loft and conquer'd in the new,

More

More fweet our fhades, more fit our bright

abodes

For warbling Mufes and infpiring Gods.

Great *Vanbrook's self might own each art-
ful draught

Equal to models in his curious thought,
Nor fcorn a fabrick by our plans to frame,
Or in immortal labours fing their fame;
Both ways he faves them from destroying fate,
If he but praise them, or but imitate..

See, where the facred

dome

Sheldon's haughty

Rivals the ftately pomp of ancient Rome,

Whose form, fo great and noble, feems defign'd
'F' exprefs the grandeur of its founder's mind.
Here, in one lofty building, we behold
Whate'er the Latian pride could boast of old.
True, no dire combats feed the favage eye,
And frew the fand with sportive cruelty;
But, more adorn'd with what the Mufe inspires,
It far outfhines their bloody theatres.

* Sir John Vanbrugh. N.

The Theatre. T,

B 2

Delight