John Taylor Anacreon Poems on Various Subjects is in Poems.
TO SIR ROGER GRESLEY [aged 21], Bart. On His Marriage With Lady SOPHIA COVENTRY, Youngest Daughter Of The EARL OF COVENTRY [aged 63].
JUNE 2, 1821
IF mortals bliss can gain below,
Thou, GRESLEY, must the blessing know;
Nature at first to thee was kind,
She gave a shrewd and pregnant mind,
By taste and learning since refin'd.
Fortune, not less her pow'r to shew,
Has deign'd her favours to bestow;
Of riches an abundant store,
And, what thou now wilt value more,
To heighten ev'ry charm of life,
A nobler treasure in a wife,
Surpassing all in Plutus' pow'r,
Were e'en Peru his added dow'r;
A wife in manners, form, and mind,
The proudest would rejoice to find,
Possessing ev'ry gentler grace
That best adorns the female race.
Oh! still may Fortune prove thy friend,
And bliss on all thy course attend,
Till Nature, in a late decay,
Shall softly steal your lives away,
And angels then be hov'ring near
To waft ye to a happier sphere.