[Page 37]

SONNET [17] XVII. From the thirteenth Cantata of Metastasio.

1 ON thy gray bark, in witness of my flame,
[*]

LINE 1.

Scrivo in te l'amato nome
Di colei, per cui, mi moro.

This is not meant as a translation; the original is much longer, and full of images, which could not be introduced in a Sonnet. And some of them, though very beautiful in the Italian, would not appear to advantage in an English dress.

2 I carve Miranda's cypher beauteous tree!
3 Grac'd with the lovely letters of her name,
4 Henceforth be sacred to my love and me!
5 Tho' the tall elm, the oak and darker pine,
6 With broader arms, may noon's fierce ardors break,
7 To shelter me, and her I love, be thine;
8 And thine to see her smile and hear her speak.
9 No bird, ill omen'd, round thy graceful head
10 Shall clamour harsh, or wave his heavy wing,
11 But fern and flow'rs arise beneath thy shade,
12 Where the wild bees, their lullabies shall sing,
13 And in thy boughs the murmuring ringdove rest;
14 And there the nightingale shall build her nest.

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Title (in Source Edition): SONNET [17] XVII. From the thirteenth Cantata of Metastasio.
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Genres: sonnet

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Source edition

Smith, Charlotte Turner, 1749-1806. Elegiac sonnets, and other poems. By Charlotte Smith. The first Worcester edition, from the sixth London edition, with additions. Printed at Worcester [Mass.]: by Isaiah Thomas, sold by him in Worcester, and by said Thomas and Andrews in Boston, 1795, p. 37. xix,[2],22-126,[2]p.,[5] leaves of plates: ill.; 15 cm. (12mo) (OTA N22357)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Charlotte Smith (née Turner)