My Lady reads, with judgment and good taste,
Books not too many, but the wisest, best,
Pregnant with sentiment sincere and chaste,
Rightly conceived were they and aptly dressed:
These wells of learning tastes she at the source,—
Johnson’ s poised periods, Fénelon’ s deep sense,
Taylor’ s mellifluous and sage discourse,
Majestic Milton’ s epic eloquence,—
Nor these alone her thoughts do all engage,
But classic authors of the modern time,
And the great masters of the ancient age,
In prose alike and of the lofty rhyme:
Montaigne and Cowper, Plutarch’ s gallery,
Blind Homer’ s Iliad and his Odyssey.