A Portrait.
Strong intellect, perception quick and clear,
Talents more prone to dazzle than to warm,
Virtues which serve those talents to endear,
Feelings which lend a fascinating charm;
A winning countenance and glowing soul,
Insinuating manners soft and mild,
Genius, submitting to the proud control
Of Judgment, Reason’s best and favourite child:
Nature design’d this creature to be great,
But Vanity behind the matron stole,
And ere she closed the volume of his fate,
Wrote her own name, and propertied the whole.