Date: 1805

"Alas! when ev'ry Muse is fled, / How wretched He who writes for bread! / Who, when the joyous years are flown, / And Reason totters on her throne, / And Fancy fails, and Nature tires, / And Fame herself no more inspires, / And ev'n the sweet return of Spring / No more can make the Poet sing, / T...

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"Or, when deserted by the Nine, / Forc'd to elaborate the line, / To labour more, yet less to please, / In the Mind's anguish or disease."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"Your Worth and Talents will unfold, / Richer than Needlework of Gold; / The native treasures of the soul, / True--as the Needle to the Pole."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"From that rich mine--a merry heart-- / You draw, with more than chemic art, / Of happy thoughts a copious store, / And radiant Gold without the Ore."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"And the gay vein of sportive Sense / Enrich'd by sterling Innocence; / Th'undrossy treasures of the Mind / Good-humour'd, graceful, and refin'd; / And, rivalling the Seers of old, / Whate'er you touch transmutes to Gold."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"The history of his Heart can tell; / Can all its sterling powers unfold, / More worth than Pens or Mines of Gold"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

Minerva has "With ready Thought, Expression fit, / And sterling Sense, and playful Wit" array'd her "favour'd Boy" Cupid

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"And Thou, Minerva, pr'ythee say, / Why with so bright a mental ray, / And all that marks the blue-ey'd Maid, / Hast thou this favour'd Boy array'd?"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"And oft thy prostituted wheel / Turns to enrich a heart of steel."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1805

"Shall she pronounce that generous Heart / A store-room vile of selfish Art?"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)