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ELEGIAC BALLAD.

TO HENRY M'KENZIE
* Author of The Man of Feeling, &c.
ESQ.

1 DIMM'D were the beamy stars of night,
2 The moon had veil'd her temp'rate light;
3 The gale was rude, the gale was high,
4 And cheerless shew'd the low'ring sky;
5 All hous'd within an aged yew,
6 Whose boughs were dank with midnight dew,
7 Night's lonely bird, with sadd'ning strain,
8 Awoke the echo of the plain;
9 Whilst still the sweet responsive maid,
10 From forth her dark, unnotic'd shade,
11 Repeated slow the doleful tale,
12 And faintly gave it to the gale.
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13 'T was then the church-yard's hollow sod
14 With frantic step poor Nancy trod;
15 She sought the spot where Henry slept,
16 And o'er his grave in anguish wept.
17 Fond Friendship's hand had planted there
18 Such flowrets wild as woodlands bear;
19 The cowslip sweet, the vi'let blue,
20 There drank soft Pity's falling dew;
21 The panzy pale, the wild rose red,
22 Were cluster'd round her Henry's head;
23 And, waving o'er the thron-bound grave,
24 The woodbine there its fragrance gave.
25 Beside the spot a willow grew,
26 Of love, like her's, the emblem true;
27 From that one votive branch she broke,
28 And thus the lovely mourner spoke:
29 "Who can the friendly charm impart
30 To heal poor Nancy's broken heart?
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31 On this green grave she rests her head,
32 To weep her friend, her true-love dead.
33 Then from the tomb, dear youth, return,
34 Nor longer let thy Nancy mourn;
35 In pity quit the cheerless grave,
36 And from despair thy Nancy save.
37 He comes, he comes; I see him now
38 On yonder mountain's spiry brow;
39 At Nancy's call I knew he'd come,
40 To soothe her grief, and lead her home.
41 Ah, me! he's gone; he shuns these arms.
42 Can Henry scorn his Nancy's charms?
43 Ah, no! ah, no! my Henry's dead.
44 Then be this grave my bridal bed."
45 All o'er the grave her form she threw,
46 Her tresses sleeping in the dew;
47 On Heav'n she fix'd her azure eyes,
48 She sigh'd, she sunk, no more to rise.
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49 Ye favour'd few, who know to love,
50 Who Sorrow's sacred pleasures prove;
51 To where these lovers sleep repair,
52 And Pity's self shall meet you there.

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Title (in Source Edition): ELEGIAC BALLAD. TO HENRY M'KENZIE ESQ.
Themes:
Genres: elegy; ballad metre; address

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Berkeley, George Monck, 1763-1793. Poems: by the late George-Monck Berkeley, Esq. ... With a preface by the editor, consisting of some anecdotes of Mr. Monck Berkeley and several of his friends. London: printed by J. Nichols; and sold by Messrs. Leigh and Sotheby; Mr. Edwards; Mr. Cooke, Oxford; Mr. Todd, York; Messrs. Simmons and Co.; Messrs. Flackton, Marrable, and Claris; and Mr. Bristow, Canterbury, 1797, pp. 27-30. viii,DCXXXII,212p.,plate: port.; 4⁰. (ESTC T142950; OTA K111746.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)

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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 George Monck Berkeley