[Page 222]

A FRAGMENT.

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1 When recent in the womb I lay,
2 Ere yet my life began,
3 Thy care preserv'd the sleeping clay,
4 And form'd it into man.
5 Oh! may this frame, that rising grew
6 Beneath thy plastic hands,
7 Be studious ever to pursue
8 Whate'er thy will commands.
9 The soul that moves this earthly load
10 Thy semblance let it bear;
11 Nor lose the traces of the God,
12 Who stamp'd his image there.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): A FRAGMENT.
Author: James Merrick
Themes: God; virtue; vice
Genres: ballad metre; Chevy Chase stanza; fragment
References: DMI 27723

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], p. 222. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.005) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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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.