[Page [173]]

A POEM ON CONTENTMENT.

INSCRIBED TO JANET NICOL, A POOR OLD WANDERING WOMAN, WHO LIVES BY THE WALL AT LOUDOUN AND USED SOMETIMES TO BE VISITED BY THE COUNTESS.

1 O JANET, by your kind permission,
2 My muse, in tatter'd low condition,
3 Would fain attempt, if you'll allow,
4 To dedicate a song to you.
5 Posses'd of few attractive pow'rs,
6 Her case does much resemble yours;
7 So lest none else should deign to hear,
8 She humbly supplicates your ear.
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9 Imprimis, she should compliment ye;
10 A Venus or Diana paint ye;
11 Count o'er your virtues by the hunder,
12 And own they're more than she can number.
13 This she might do; but then 't would grieve her,
14 To find no mortal did believe her.
15 She calls you patroness and friend,
16 And begs that blessings may attend
17 Upon you in your humble cot,
18 And keep your 'scutcheon free frae blot.
19 May sweet contentment, hard to find,
20 With radient lustre light your mind;
21 While numbers of your sister train
22 Must for the treasure pant in vain.
23 Bright Celia, with her conquering eyes,
24 Attempts to win the doubtful prize:
25 She darts a glance, ah! cruel maid,
26 Philander drops! a strapping blade.
27 The youth as frantic now behaves;
28 Of love and flames, and darts he raves.
29 Not Esculapius' sons can cure,
30 Nor ease the pangs he must endure.
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31 At last the charmer gives consent;
32 Then Hymen does them both torment,
33 With nameless ills unknown before,
34 And ev'ry month augments the score.
35 May stars propitious guard your life
36 From all the mis'ries of a wife:
37 Poor Delia's sighs and tears next prove
38 The pains of ill requited love.
39 She danc'd, had wit, was wondrous fair,
40 And seem'd Alonzo's heart to snare.
41 True love and constancy he vow'd;
42 But this by all must be allow'd,
43 That young men's tongues do not impart
44 The real language of their heart.
45 He wed another, sad to tell!
46 And bad the mournful maid farewel.
47 O Janet, may you never know
48 The pangs that lovers undergo.
49 Cordelia too, with look demure,
50 Contentment wishes to ensure.
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51 She flattering Cupid wont believe:
52 She knows that Hymen can deceive;
53 But fondly hopes in verse to shine,
54 Assisted by the tuneful Nine;
55 To call their treasures all her own,
56 E'en in despite of fortune's frown.
57 But weak, alas! is her pretence;
58 Her song proves destitute of sense.
59 Each cavilling critic does her vex,
60 And ev'ry censure sore perplex.
61 O may you never feel the pain,
62 We heedless scribbling fools sustain.
63 A thousand more from various views,
64 The gliding meteor swift pursues.
65 The Patriot toils, in pensive mood,
66 For honour and Britannia's good.
67 The Courtier deems his Sov'reign's smile
68 Would all his anxious cares beguile.
69 O Janet, shun the coxing tribe,
70 Who barter virtue for a bribe.
71 The Coxcomb's care we well can guess;
72 He thinks the charm consists in dress,
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73 Pomatum, powder, linens white,
74 Wash-balls, perfumes, and mirrors bright.
75 The Miser hopes his joys to hold,
76 Fast lock'd within his bags of gold:
77 Thieves, moth and rust, corrupt his rest;
78 May all his sorrows be your jest.
79 The plodding sage long years has spent
80 In searching for the gem content,
81 Which often does, I know not why,
82 In heaps of rustic rubbish lie.
83 And may my honest friend just now,
84 Without much quest be found by you;
85 May your old shoes, your staff and plaidy,
86 Be always for the journey ready:
87 And blithly may ilk neighbour greet you;
88 May cakes, and scones, and kibbocks meet you;
89 And may they weel ilk pocket cram,
90 And in your bottle slip a dram.
91 May your wee glass, your pipe and specks,
92 Be ay' preserv'd frae doleful wrecks.
93 May your wee house, baith snug and warm,
94 Be safe frae ev'ry rude alarm
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95 Of wandering lovers, who'd essay
96 To make soft innocence their prey:
97 Or ruffians cast in rougher mould,
98 Whose sordid bosoms beat for gold.
99 Content grows joy, in meeting there
100 The little, lovely, blooming fair,
101 Who makes thy cot and thee her care;
102 Whose gentle, gen'rous, noble mind,
103 Tho' great and rich, can here prove kind;
104 Whose footsteps mark her path with peace,
105 Whose smile bids ev'ry sorrow cease;
106 For age and want, and wo provides
107 And over misery presides.
108 Her father's worth, and mother's charms
109 Esteem and fond affection warms,
110 While kind D – f – s, with rapture spies,
111 The sighing breast and swimming eyes;
112 Whose rays have found in James and thee,
113 The melting charm of misery.
114 That charm much more the cherub moves,
115 Than did his gift of cooing doves;
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116 Whose hearts, less tender than her own,
117 Breathe forth their ever pleasing moan.
118 Sweet innocence, in her we find;
119 Bright truth illuminates her mind:
120 Each action says, for her to give
121 It is more joy than to receive.
122 Let James and you for Loudoun pray,
123 Whose charms have lur'd me from my lay.
124 Janet farewel, you've lint and tow,
125 O keep your rock ay frae the low;
126 Tho' turmoils torture land and sea,
127 Content may smoke a pipe with thee.

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Title (in Source Edition): A POEM ON CONTENTMENT. INSCRIBED TO JANET NICOL, A POOR OLD WANDERING WOMAN, WHO LIVES BY THE WALL AT LOUDOUN AND USED SOMETIMES TO BE VISITED BY THE COUNTESS.
Author: Janet Little (later Richmond)
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Genres: tale

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Little, Janet, 1759-1813. The Poetical Works of Janet Little, the Scotch Milkmaid. Air: Printed by John & Peter Wilson, 1792, pp. [173]-179.  (ESTC T126549) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Library of the University of California, Los Angeles.)

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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 Janet Little (later Richmond)