PROEM.
THE CARD
OF
INVITATION.
Odi profanum Vulgus, et arceo.
HORACE.
                                O, COME NOT HERE, YE proud, whose breasts
infold
                                Th' insatiate wish of glory or of gold;
                                O COME NOT, YE, whose wrinkled foreheads
wear
                                 Th'eternal frown of envy, or of care;
                                For YOU no DRYAD decks her fragrant bowers,
                                For YOU her sparkling urn no NAIAD pours;
                                Unmark'd by YOU light GRACES skim the green,
                                And hov'ring CUPIDS aim their shafts unseen.-
                                  But THOU, whose Mind the well-attemper'd
ray
                                Of taste, and virtue, lights with purer day,
                                Whose finer Sense each soft vibration owns,
                                With sweet responsive sympathy of tones;
                                For THEE sweet CEREUS and RENEALMIAS glow,
                                And other plants their curious structure
shew
                                For THEE MY Vallies nurse the varied Wreath;
                                My Rivers murmur, and MY Zephyrs breathe;
                                My painted Birds their vivid plumes unfold,
                                And Insects wave their little wings of gold.-
                                  So the FAIR FLOWER expands her lucid form
                                To meet the Sun, and shuts it to the Storm.
                                                                     SEWARD.