[Page 66]

SONNET [46] XLVI. Written at Penshurst, in Autumn, 1788.

1 YE Tow'rs sublime, deserted now and drear,
2 Ye woods, deep sighing to the hollow blast,
3 The musing wand'rer loves to linger near,
4 While History points to all your glories past:
5 And startling from their haunts the timid deer,
6 To trace the walks obscur'd by matted fern,
7 Which Waller's soothing lyre were wont to hear,
8 But where now clamours the discordant hern!
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LINE 8. But where now clamours the discordant hern.

In the park at Penshurst is a heronry. The house is at present uninhabited, and the windows of the galleries and other rooms, in which there are many invaluable pictures, are never opened but when strangers visit it.

9 The spoiling hand of Time may overturn
10 These lofty battlements, and quite deface
11 The fading canvas whence we love to learn
12 Sydney's keen look, and Sacharissa's grace;
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LINE 12. Algernon Sydney.

13 But Fame and Beauty still defy decay,
14 Sav'd by th' historic page the poet's tender lay!

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Title (in Source Edition): SONNET [46] XLVI. Written at Penshurst, in Autumn, 1788.
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Genres: sonnet

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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. 66. 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.

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