Wise philosopher Socrates also would know,
From Aspasia the fair how to well point a toe.
Pompous nuptials and feasts—e’en the grave Funerals
Was danc’d at by princes, priests, people and all.
It is only fair to say that the verses in the volume do frequently rise from this level to that of mediocrity. The following specimen of bouts rimés may serve to indicate the type and contents of the volume:
| Hard to my muse it is, I must | confess, |
| In six fixed rhymes aught witty to | express; |
| Why did I mix with Wits? who must | detest |
| And crush my follies which their sense | molest. |
| Thus the poor mole, who rises into | light |
| Dies when he meets the sun’s refulgent | might. |
There are other things to be said in amelioration of the harsh judgments one is inclined to pass upon Mrs. Miller. The later volumes are certainly less bad than the first. The praise of Mrs. Miller, which had formed the staple of the first volume, is somewhat mitigated in the others, and the names of the contributors occasionally emerge into the borderland of fame. Potter, William Hayley, Anna Seward, and Christopher Anstey are worthy of respect, and a poem by Garrick, though worthless, lends a certain distinction to the second volume. Anstey’s poem, An Election Ball,[202] which enjoyed something of the popularity of his New Bath Guide, was written upon a subject given out by Mrs. Miller, ‘The ancient and modern Dress and Manners of the English Nation compared’; and the Poetical Address which prefaced it is addressed to Mr. Miller. In the former ‘Clio’ and the Tusculan ‘vause’ are celebrated, and in the latter the ‘myrtle sprigs’ and ‘vocal swans of Bath.’ These poems are still readable.
To Mrs. Miller must certainly be allowed the merit of having gathered about herself a group of persons who would have made the reputation of any London drawing-room. Her own inability to produce anything that should have more than the external appearance of verse does not seem to have repelled those of higher ability and finer taste. For such a woman it was in the nature of an achievement that her Institution lasted six years; and the four volumes of so-called poetical contributions to it retain a certain melancholy interest as showing the result of a deliberate attempt by the world of fashion to stimulate the production of poetry.