Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/218

 80 THE POEMS OF ANNE �But let it not attempt to raise �Or rightly speak SEEENA'S Praise: �Since with more ease we might declare �How Great her Predecessors were; �How Great that more distinguish'd Peer, �To whom she owes her Being here; 20 �In whom our Britain lets us see �What once they were, and still shou'd be ; �As, when the earliest Race was drown'd, �Some Patterns, from amongst them found, �Were kept to shew succeeding Times �Their Excellence without their Crimes: �More easily we might express �What Vertues do her Mother dress ; �What does her Form and Mind adorn, �Of whom th' engaging Nymph was born ; 80 �What Piety, what generous Love, �Does the enlarged Bosom move �Of Her, whose Fav'rite she appears, �Who more than as a Niece endears. �Such full Perfections obvious lie, �And strike, at first, a Poet's Eye. �Deep Lines of Honour all can hit, �Or mark out a superior Wit; �Consummate Goodness all can show, �And where such Graces shine below: 40 �But the more tender Strokes to trace, �T' express the Promise of a Face, �When but the Dawnings of the Mind �We from an Air unripen'd find; �Which alt'ring, as new Moments rise, �The Pen or Pencil's Art defies; �When Flesh and Blood in Youth appears, �Polish'd like what our Marble wears ; ��� �