Written In Montaigne's Essays
GIVEN TO THE DUKE OF SHREWSBURY IN FRANCE, AFTER THE PEACE, MDCCXIII .
Dictate , O mighty judge, what thou hast seen
Of cities, and of courts, of books, and men;
And deign to let thy servant hold the pen.
Through ages thus I may presume to live,
And from the transcript of thy prose receive
What my own short-liv'd verse can never give.
Thus shall fair Britain with a gracious smile
Accept the work; and the instructed isle,
For more than treaties made, shall bless my toil.
Nor longer hence the Gallic style preferr'd,
Wisdom in English idiom shall be heard,
While Talbot tells the world, where Montaigne
Dictate , O mighty judge, what thou hast seen
Of cities, and of courts, of books, and men;
And deign to let thy servant hold the pen.
Through ages thus I may presume to live,
And from the transcript of thy prose receive
What my own short-liv'd verse can never give.
Thus shall fair Britain with a gracious smile
Accept the work; and the instructed isle,
For more than treaties made, shall bless my toil.
Nor longer hence the Gallic style preferr'd,
Wisdom in English idiom shall be heard,
While Talbot tells the world, where Montaigne
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