Sonnet to the Right Honourable Lady Mary Coke + 

The gentle maid, whose hapless tale + 

These melancholy pages speak; + 

Say, gracious lady, shall she fail + 

To draw the tear adown thy cheek? + 

No; never was thy pitying breast + 

Insensible to human woes; + 

Tender, though firm, it melts distrest + 

For weaknesses it never knows. + 

Oh! guard the marvels I relate + 

Of fell ambition scourg’d by fate, + 

From reason’s peevish blame. + 

Blest with thy smile, my dauntless sail + 

I dare expand to Fancy’s gale, + 

For sure thy smiles are Fame. + 