[Page 167]
AN EPISTLE
TO MISS ISABELLA GRAHAM OF GARTMORE.
1 AT earliest dawn brisk Archy rose,
2 And tightly garter'd on his hose;
3 He in his bosom plac'd a sprig,
4 And put on his best philibeg,
5 Mounted his sheltie — then demands,
6 "Gif Lady Susan had commands,
[Page 168]7 To Gartmore, Madam, I am going" —
8 Respectfully the while kept bowing; —
9 "A letter, if you'll please to give it,
10 The morn Miss Tibby shall receive it;"
11 I thank you, Archy; — yes, I'll send
12 A letter to my dearest friend.
13 Just then Remembrance seem'd to say,
14 "Why, sure, you wrote but yesterday!
15 And, scribbling every day such nonsense,
16 In truth you have but little conscience;
17 Your scrolls are all so hard to read,
18 They're each an Athanasian creed,
19 Which not a mortal understands,
20 So quick the line forms in your hands;
21 And every thought, as you conceive it,
22 Though immature, you being give it;
23 Still, still to Wisdom's full-grown thought
24 Your small ideas seem a mote,
25 Therefore on paper no more note them."
26 But May and Tibby will out blot them!
27 Exclaim'd my heart in great emotion,
28 Stung to the quick at Wisdom's caution;
29 'Tis true my heart knows no restraint,
30 I laugh, or sing, or make complaint;
31 Just as the heart compounds the dye
32 The colour flushes to the eye,
33 And while to Friendship's ken display'd,
34 Be ever seen its light and shade.
35 'Tis Friendship holds the faithful glass
36 Which lets no faults unnotic'd pass,
[Page 169]37 But places them in such a light
38 As soften'd meet the conscious sight;
39 Amendment soon smooths every feature,
40 And shows a less imperfect creature;
41 And Friendship's kind observance shows
42 Dark Error's tints or Virtue's glows.
43 Happy the few who find the Friend
44 Whose candour strives each fault to mend;
45 Who deals reproof with lenient care,
46 Touches each fault, yet strives to spare;
47 For e'en the honest feeling heart
48 With softest chastisement will smart, —
49 By conscious defalcation stung,
50 And pain'd the most t' have acted wrong;
51 Then be it Friendship's constant part
52 To mend but not afflict the heart.
53 Thus, with myself in mental confab,
54 And having own'd my pen a sad blab, —
55 Vex'd e'en that Caution should distrust
56 Those friends I love, those friends so just,
57 Those steadfast hearts I dare confide in,
58 And hope for ever to reside in,
59 I drove cold Prudence from my ear,
60 Her whisper'd doubts refus'd to hear,
61 Promis'd to list some other day,
62 My letter seal'd, and sent away.
Source edition
Blamire, Susanna, 1747-1794. The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire “The muse of Cumberland.” Now for the first time collected by Henry Lonsdale, M.D. with a preface, memoir, and notes by Patrick Maxwell, ... Edinburgh: John Menzies, 61 Princes Street; R. Tyas, London; D. Robertson, Glasgow; and C. Thurnam, Carlisle. MDCCCXLII., 1842, pp. 167-169. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [42.256].)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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 Susanna Blamire
- 'TWAS WHEN THE SUN SLID DOWN YON HILL. ()
- ADDRESS TO HEALTH. — 1784. ()
- ADDRESS TO MISS J. GALE ON HER MARRIAGE WITH THE REV. F. GRAHAM, RECTOR OF ARTHURET. ()
- THE ADIEU AND RECALL TO LOVE. ()
- AE NIGHT IN DARK DECEMBER. ()
- AGAIN MAUN ABSENCE CHILL MY SOUL. ()
- THE AULD CARLE WAD TAK ME FAIN. ()
- AULD ROBIN FORBES. ()
- BARLEY BROTH. ()
- BEHOLD, MY AMANDA. ()
- THE BOWER OF ELEGANCE. ADDRESSED TO A VERY ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN. ()
- BRIDE-CAKE. ()
- A CALL TO HOPE. 22D MAY, 1792. ()
- A CAUTION TO MISS B. ()
- THE CHELSEA PENSIONERS. ()
- COME, MORTALS, ENLIVEN THE HOUR. ()
- THE CUMBERLAND SCOLD. ()
- A CURE FOR LOVE. ()
- DEAR NANCY. ()
- THE DESCENT OF PITY. 20TH NOVEMBER, 1781. ()
- EDWIN AND ALICIA. A TALE. ()
- AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MRS DACRE. ()
- EPISTLE TO HER FRIENDS AT GARTMORE. ()
- THE FAREWELL TO AFFECTION. ()
- FOR THE CARLISLE HUNT. November, 1788 ()
- HAD MY DADDIE LEFT ME GEAR ENOUGH. ()
- HOPE. ()
- I AM OF A TEMPER FIXED AS A DECREE. ()
- I'LL HAE A NEW COATIE. ()
- I'M TIBBY FOWLER O' THE GLEN. ()
- I'VE GOTTEN A ROCK, I'VE GOTTEN A REEL. ()
- IN THAT EYE WHERE EXPRESSION. ()
- IN THE DREAM OF THE MOMENT. ()
- IN THE SEARCH OF GOOD HUMOUR. ()
- THE INVITATION. TO TWO SISTERS. ()
- LETTERS OF THE LOVERS. ()
- THE LILY OF THE VALLEY, CHOSEN THE EMBLEM OF INNOCENCE. ()
- THE LILY'S TRIUMPH OVER THE ROSE. ()
- THE LOSS OF THE ROEBUCK. ()
- MAY NOT THE LOVE OF PRAISE BE AN INCENTIVE TO VIRTUE? ()
- THE MEETING. ()
- MOONLIGHT. ()
- THE NABOB. ()
- NAY, NAY, CENSOR TIME. ()
- NOW SANDY MAUN AWA. ()
- THE NUN'S RETURN TO THE WORLD, BY THE DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE, FEBRUARY, 1790. ()
- O BID ME NOT TO WANDER. Written when earnestly entreated to go to the South of France for the recovery of her health. ()
- O DINNA THINK, MY BONNIE LASS. ()
- O DONALD! YE ARE JUST THE MAN. ()
- O JENNY DEAR, I'VE COURTED LANG. ()
- O JENNY DEAR, THE WORD IS GANE. ()
- O JENNY DEAR. ()
- O THERE IS NOT A SHARPER DART. ()
- O WHERE IS THE SPLENDOUR. ()
- O WHY SHOULD MORTALS SUFFER CARE. ()
- OLD HARRY'S RETURN. ()
- ON COLLINS'S ODE ON THE PASSIONS, AS RECITED BY MRS ESTEN ()
- ON IMAGINED HAPPINESS IN HUMBLE STATIONS. ()
- ON THE DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF MY FRIEND MRS L. 13TH MAY, 1788. ()
- ON THE MARRIAGE OF MISS JOHANNA GALE WITH THE REV. P. GRAHAM, RECTOR OF ARTHURET. 18TH FEBRUARY, 1792. ()
- A PETITION TO APRIL. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS, 1793. ()
- PITY'S DESCENT TO EARTH, AND ADVICE TO FRIENDSHIP. ()
- THE RECALL TO AFFECTION. ()
- THE SILLER CROUN. ()
- THE SOLDIER'S RETURN. ()
- SPRING. APRIL, 1786. ()
- STOKLEWATH; OR, THE CUMBRIAN VILLAGE. ()
- THOUGH BACCHUS MAY BOAST. ()
- TO A LADY WHO WENT INTO THE COUNTRY IN APRIL. ()
- TO A LADY, WHO FREQUENTLY WITHDREW FROM COMPANY. ()
- TO THE FLOWER LOVE-IN-IDLENESS, AND A PETITION TO THE FAIRIES TO BRING INDIFFERENCE. ()
- TO-MORROW. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS. ()
- THE TOILING DAY HIS TASK HAS DUIN. ()
- THE WAEFU' HEART. ()
- WE'VE HED SEC A DURDUM. ()
- WEY, NED, MAN! ()
- WHAT AILS THIS HEART O' MINE! ()
- WHEN HOME WE RETURN. ()
- WHEN NIGHT'S DARK MANTLE. ()
- WHEN SEVEREST FOES IMPENDING. ()
- WHEN THE SOFT TEAR STEALS SILENTLY. ()
- WHEN THE SUNBEAMS OF JOY. ()
- WRITTEN IN A CHURCHYARD, ON SEEING A NUMBER OF CATTLE GRAZING IN IT. ()
- WRITTEN ON A GLOOMY DAY, IN SICKNESS. THACKWOOD, 4TH JUNE, 1786. ()