Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake

Ambrose Philips (1674–1749)

Extract from the Ode to Miss Carteret

BY the next returning spring,

When again the linnets sing,

When again the lambkins play,

Pretty sportlings! full of May;

When the meadows next are seen,

Sweet enamel! white and green;

And the year, in fresh attire,

Welcomes every gay desire;

Blooming on, shalt thou appear

More inviting than the year,

Fairer sight than orchard shows,

Which beside a river blows.

Yet another spring I see,

And a brighter bloom in thee,

And another round of time,

Circling, still improves thy prime;

And, beneath the vernal skies,

Yet a verdure more shall rise,

Ere thy beauties, kindling show,

In each finished feature glow;

Ere, in smiles and in disdain,

Thou assert thy maiden reign,

Absolute to save or kill

Fond beholders at thy will.

Then the taper-moulded waist,

With a span of beauty braced,

And the swell of either breast,

And the wide high-vaulted chest,

And the neck so white and round,

Little neck with brilliants bound,

And the store of charms that shine

Above, in lineaments divine,

Crowded in a narrow space

To complete the desperate face;

Those alluring powers, and more,

Shall enamoured youths adore,

These and more, in courtly lays,

Many an aching heart shall praise.