To Miss Isabella Fenwick

Fain would I put my meanings in the tongue
Familiar, lady, to thy earliest years,
That gives the finest edge to social jeers ;
The language, which by merry bard was sung
In times of old, to ladies fair, among
The courts devoted to sublimed amours,
By gay trouveurs, and knightly troubadours.
Accents o'er which the Scottish Mary hung
Her beauteous head enamour'd. Yet I trust
Thou wilt not scorn the talk of this old isle,
The tongue which Milton raised to themes sublime,
On which keen Pope bestow'd his poignant gust,
Which Cowper graced with melancholy smile,
And Spenser hallow'd with immortal rhyme.