It was about this time that his passion for poetry first manifested itself. He had before (August 17, 1714), under the signature of “John Shadow,” contributed a paper to the Spectator on the subject of dreams, which elicited a complimentary editorial note from Addison. This was followed on the 6th October in the same year by his pretty pastoral, “Colin and Phœbe,” prefaced by another complimentary note, which at once brought him into general notice:—
My time, O ye muses, was happily spent,
When Phœbe went with me wherever I went,
Ten thousand sweet pleasures I felt in my breast;
Sure never fond shepherd like Colin was blest!
But now she has gone, and has left me behind,
What a marvellous change on a sudden I find!
When things were as fine as could possibly be,
I thought ’twas the spring, but alas! it was she.