Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.
II. After Seeing the Collection of Pictures at Wilton HouseThomas Warton (17281790)
F
Decks with a magic hand the dazzling bowers,
Its living hues where the warm pencil pours,
And breathing forms from the rude marble start—
How to life’s humbler scene can I depart,
My breast all glowing from these gorgeous towers?
In my low cell how cheat the sullen hours?
Vain the complaint; for Fancy can impart
(To Fate superior, and to Fortune’s doom)
Whate’er adorns the stately-storied hall.
She, ’mid the dungeon’s solitary gloom,
Can dress the Graces in their Attic pall;
Bid the green landscape’s vernal beauty bloom,
And in bright trophies clothe the twilight wall.