ON THE MUCH LAMENTED DEATH OF MISS POLLY MARTIN,
WHO DIED IN THE 18th YEAR OF HER AGE.
Forgive a youth, although the effort’s vain,
Who dares to raise the sympathetic lay;
Though lost with Shenstone in th’ elegiac strain,
And loose unstrung reclines the lyre of Gray.
Yet when fair virtue animates the line,
Say, shall the muse withhold her wonted fire;
When cherubs drooping o’er the urn recline,
Shall she unwilling strike the golden lyre.
Here lies the maid who late the village charm’d