U

E PIT A PH.

I.

NDERNEATH this marble stone,
Lie two beauties join'd in one.

II.

Two, whose loves death could not sever;
For both liv'd, both dy'd together.

III.

Two, whofe fouls, being too divine
For earth, in their own sphere now shine.

IV.

Who have left their loves to fame,
And their earth to earth again,

VOL. VII.

SYLVA:

SYL V A:

OR,

DIVERS COPIES OF VERSES,

MADE UPON SUNDRY OCCASIONS.

F 2

DE FELICI PARTU REGINE MARIÆ*.

UM more antiquo jejunia festa coluntur,

DUM

Et populum pafcit religiofa fames,

Quinta beat noftram foboles formosa Mariam:
Pere iterum nobis, læte December, ades.
Ite, quibus lufum Bacchufque Cerefque miniftrant,
Et rifum vitis lacryma rubra movet.

* From the "YNRAIA, five Mufarum Cantabrigienfium Concentus et Congratulatio, ad fereniffimum Britanniarum Regem "Carolum, de quinta fua fobole [Princess Anne], clariffima Prin"cipe, fibi nuper feliciffimè nata. Cantabrigiæ, 1637.” I doubt not but it will prove a pleafing amusement to the curious reader, to trace the first dawnings of genius in fome of our first-rate poetic characters; and to compare them with the eminence they afterwards attained to, and the rank they at laft held among their brethren of the laurel. Some early fpecimens of Dryden's genius may be feen in the first volume of his poems. Those of Cowley, here printed, abound with strokes of wit, some true, but the far greater part false; which thoroughly characterise the writer, and may be justly pronounced to point out his genius and manner, in miniature. K.-This fpecies of entertainment the kind attention of Mr. Kynafton (the friend to whom I owe these remarks) enables me confiderably to extend, by furnishing the earliest poetical productions of fome writers who are now univerfally looked up to as excellent; none of which are to be found in any edition of their respective works. In fuch juvenile performances, it is well obferved by an admirable critic, "the abfurd conceits and extra"vagant fancies are the true feeds and germs, which afterwards "ripen, by proper culture, into the most luxuriant harvests." See Annual Regifter, 1779, p. 180. J. N.