Verses on a Flowered Carpet, Worked by the Young Ladies at Kingston

When Pallas saw the piece her pupils wrought, She stood long wondering at the lovely draught: " And, Flora, now (she cried) no more display Thy flowers, the trifling beauties of a day: For see! how these with life immortal bloom, And spread and flourish for an age to come! In what unguarded hour did I impart To these fair virgins all my darling art? In all my wit I saw these rivals shine, But this one art I thought was always mine: Yet lo! I yield; their mistress now no more, But proud to learn from these I taught before. For look, what vegetable sense is here! How warm with life these blushing leaves appear! What temper'd splendors o'er the piece are laid! Shade steals on light, and light dies into shade. Thro' heaven's gay bow less various beauties run, And far less bright, tho' painted by the sun. See in each blooming flower what spirit glows! What vivid colours flush the opening rose! In some few hours thy lilly disappears; But this shall flourish thro' a length of years, See unfelt winters pass successive by, And scorn a mean dependence on the sky. And oh! may Britain, by my counsels sway'd, But live and flourish, 'till these flowers shall fade! Then go, fond Flora, go, the palm resign To works more fair and durable than thine: For I, even I, in justice yield the crown To works so far superior to my own."