| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | An Ode on Miss Harriet Hanbury, Six Years Old | | By Sir Charles Hanbury Williams (1708–1759) |
| | | WHY should I thus employ my time, | |
| To paint those cheeks of rosy hue? | |
| Why should I search my brains for rhyme, | |
| To sing those eyes of glossy blue? | |
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| The power as yet is all in vain, | 5 |
| Thy numerous charms, and various graces: | |
| They only serve to banish pain, | |
| And light up joy in parents’ faces. | |
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| But soon those eyes their strength shall feel; | |
| Those charms their powerful sway shall find: | 10 |
| Youth shall in crowds before you kneel, | |
| And own your empire o’er mankind. | |
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| Then, when on Beauty’s throne you sit, | |
| And thousands court your wish’d-for arms; | |
| My Muse shall stretch her utmost wit, | 15 |
| To sing the victories of your charms. | |
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| Charms that in time shall ne’er be lost, | |
| At least while verse like mine endures, | |
| And future Hanburys shall boast, | |
| Of verse like mine, of charms like yours. | 20 |
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| A little vain we both may be, | |
| Since scarce another house can show, | |
| A poet, that can sing like me; | |
| A beauty, that can charm like you. | | | | |
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