Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake
Ambrose Philips (16741749)Extract from the Ode to Miss Carteret
B
When again the linnets sing,
When again the lambkins play,
Pretty sportlings! full of May;
When the meadows next are seen,
Sweet enamel! white and green;
And the year, in fresh attire,
Welcomes every gay desire;
Blooming on, shalt thou appear
More inviting than the year,
Fairer sight than orchard shows,
Which beside a river blows.
Yet another spring I see,
And a brighter bloom in thee,
And another round of time,
Circling, still improves thy prime;
And, beneath the vernal skies,
Yet a verdure more shall rise,
Ere thy beauties, kindling show,
In each finished feature glow;
Ere, in smiles and in disdain,
Thou assert thy maiden reign,
Absolute to save or kill
Fond beholders at thy will.
Then the taper-moulded waist,
With a span of beauty braced,
And the swell of either breast,
And the wide high-vaulted chest,
And the neck so white and round,
Little neck with brilliants bound,
And the store of charms that shine
Above, in lineaments divine,
Crowded in a narrow space
To complete the desperate face;
Those alluring powers, and more,
Shall enamoured youths adore,
These and more, in courtly lays,
Many an aching heart shall praise.