Works

I wrote the following Verses at Bath on Greenway’s Grotto where I used to bathe in the clearest Water sure one could find in England.

1.

Pellucid Stream, refreshing Pow’r!
    Whose liberal Current lends,
New Beauties to each vernal Flow’r
    That o’er the border bends.

2.

Pellucid Stream where still I lave,
    Delight and Health to find;
Give me to emulate thy wave,
    In Purity of Mind.

3.

Of all the Gifts which Heaven bestows,
    Beyond even King’s Controul;
Give me to crown my honest Vows
    Transparency of Soul.

4.

And as no foul or noisome Weed
    Pollutes thy silvery Source;
Let each ill governd Wish recede
    Nor stain my Fancy’s Course.

5.

While thoughts though in themselves but rude
    Securely there reside;
As Pebbles to Advantage view’d
    Thro’ thy translucent Tide.

6.

And so from dull Stagnation pure
    Thy Stream be guarded still;
So may nor Wind nor Rain obscure
    Thy lovely limpid Rill:

7.

As here recruited Strength I gain
    The Floods of Life to stem;
Keep keen my Sense of Joy and Pain
    Yet both for heaven contemn