Ambrose Philips[ I 6 7 5 (? ) - I 7 4 9 ]To CHARLOTTE PULTENEY
¶TIMELY blossom, Infant fair,Fondling of a happy pair,Every morn and every nightTheir solicitous delight,Sleeping, waking , still at ease,Pleasing, without skill to please;
Colley Cibber
¶Little gossip, blithe and hale,T at ding many a broken tale,Singing many a tuneless song,Lavish of a heedless tongue;Simple maiden, void of art,Babbling out the very heart,Yet abandon'd to thy will,Yet imagining no ill,Yet too innocent to blush;Like the linnet in the bushTo the mother-linnet's noteMod u ling her slender throat;Chirping forth thy pretty joys,Wanton in the change of toys,Like the linnet green, in MayFlitting to each bloomy spray;Wearied then and glad of rest,Like the linnet in the nest:—This thy present happy lotThis, in time will be forgot:Other pleasures, other cares,Ever-busy Time prepares;And thou shalt in thy daughter see,This picture, once, resembled thee.