The plagiarism was rather too glaring, but the ladies probably knew nothing of it.
The Trent, at least in these parts, is famous for swans. I once counted on each side of Wolseley Bridge, which is about two miles from Colton, altogether five-and-thirty.
The other poem, entitled "Celia," is neat and elegant, and a fair specimen of courtly gallantry. It is a proof that Sir R. Fanshaw possessed a lively and refined imagination, when he could take advantage of such a trifling circumstance.
Towards the end of a copy of Sir R. Fanshaw's poems, in the library at Tixall, there are some latin verses "Ad Dominam navigantem," with an English translation, of which the four first lines are so uncommonly elegant, so highly polished, and so sweetly melodious, that I cannot refrain from inserting them here; though I do not believe them to be the production of Sir R. Fanshaw.
O Diva, O Formosa vale: non ventus, et æquor,
Cordibus intumeant oculisque simillima nostris:
Sed vultus imitata tuos, pectusque serenum
Mulceat Aura aures, blandumque arrideat æquor.
Farewell, fair saint; let not the seas, and wind,
Swell like the eyes, and hearts, you leave behind;
But smooth, and gentle, as the looks you wear,
Smile in your face, and whisper in your ear.
The reader will be struck with the resemblance between these exquisite verses, and the following tender lines, from one of Collins's Eclogues:
Farewell the youth, whom sighs could not detain
Whom Zara's breaking heart implored in vain!
Yet as thou go'st, may every blast arise,
Weak, and unfelt, as these rejected sighs!
P. 216. Sidney Godolphin was brother to the treasurer Godolphin; "a
