Anonymous

The Prospect From Primrose Hill

The Gentleman's Magazine, June 1749.

Stella, my Muse! whose beauty prompts the song,
To whom the poet and the lays belong...
To Primrose Hill lead on the flow'ry way,
And thence the matchless scenes around survey.
Mean while the Muse shall sing, with fond surprise,
The various prospects, as by turns they rise...

But where, entranc'd, shall I begin the lay?
Where Phoebus' dancing beams reflected play;
From Highgate's shining villas, tow'ring high,
That pierce the clouds, and seem to touch the sky;
Or where fair Hampstead's shaded beauties dawn,
Like Stella's bosom, thro' the op'ning lawn:
Where Kent and Surrey's pleasant hills arise,
Or spire-crown'd Harrow strikes my roving eyes;
Which way soe'ere I shift the pleasing view,
The charms, tho' equal, vary'd still, are new...