"Sonnet to the Right Honourable Lady Mary Coke" by Horace Walpole

By way of a dedication, Walpole gives us this sonnet to his friend Mary Coke:

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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, tho’ 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.

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The picture used is a portrait of Lady Mary Coke, née Campbell, by Allan Ramsay