Excerpt from Description of a Journey to Marlborough, Bath, Portsmouth etc.
PAULTONS affords me next a kind Retreat,
Where crowding Joys my grateful Heart dilate;
To see the Friend, who first my Lays approv'd,
Who loves the Muse, and by her is belov'd;
Who taught her tender Pinions how to fly,
Told when she crept too low, or soar'd too high.
O STANLEY! if, forgetful of thy Love,
I e'er to Gratitude rebellious prove;
Still may I want a Friend, but never find;
May FORTUNE, PHOEBUS, STANLEY, prove unkind!
HERE often thro' the gloomy Woods I rove,
Pleas'd with the silent Horror of the Grove.
And now the Lawn, and winding Walks delight;
And now the Memphian Turret charms my Sight:
Here conic Firs in graceful Order stand;
Tall Cedars there, the Growth of Syrian Land.
Lead me, ye sacred DRYADS! leads me thro'
Your sylvan Scenes, where future Navies grow;
Where lofty Oaks their branching Arms extend,
And tow'ring Pines to kiss the Clouds ascend;
Where op'ning Glades admit the sunny Ray,
Or venerable Groves exclude the Day.
There let me Knaves, and Fools, and Fops despise,
And think of Actions worthy of the Wise.
Paultons was the country estate of the Stanleys. It is now a theme park.
Poetry Atlas has many other poems about Hampshire.