[Page 149]

A Letter written from London to Mrs. Strangeways Horner
[ed.] "Mrs. Strangeways Horner, probably the heiress of Thomas Strangeways of Melbury Park. She lived at Mells Park near Frome, Somerset. The family became Strangeways-Fox." (Tucker [1992], 220) (AH)
, whom the Author had left the Day before at Tunbridge-Wells.

Oct. 1730.

1 Say, my Hortensia, in this silent Hour,
2 When the pale Queen of Night exerts her Pow'r,
3 What Guardian-Angels on thy Slumbers wait,
4 To paint the Glories of thy future State;
5 To shew what Mansions, in the Realms divine,
6 Are set apart for Souls, refin'd as thine?
7 Tho' thither, wing'd with Hope, thy Virtues soar,
8 Late, very late, may'st thou those Realms explore!
9 Adas! I left thee sick: O Shame to tell!
10 I should have staid to see Hortensia well:
[Page 150]
11 But dire Necessity, relentless, sway'd;
12 She, stern, enjoin'd, unwilling I obey'd.
13 Torn from thy Sight, how have I dragg'd the Day ,
14 Which, in thy Presence, flew too swift away!
15 How shall I pass the melancholy Night?
16 When will the Post arrive, and give Delight?
17 Of thy returning Health when shall I hear?
18 Fain would I hope, tho' quite depress'd with Fear.
19 O Pow'r supreme! yet, yet, Hortensia spare;
20 The Stranger, and the Wretched, are her Care:
21 Snatch her not hence; we cannot let her go;
22 Still let her be thy Substitute below,
23 To raise the sinking Heart, to heal Distress;
24 To Her was giv'n the Will and Pow'r to bless.
25 O would Heav'n grant me, ere I cross the Main,
26 To see thy Face, Hortensia, once again!
27 But I must hasten to Hibernia's Shore;
28 And never, never, shall behold thee more.

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Title (in Source Edition): A Letter written from London to Mrs. Strangeways Horner, whom the Author had left the Day before at Tunbridge-Wells. Oct. 1730.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: grief; sadness; melancholy; illness; injury; friendship
Genres: heroic couplet; epistle
References: DMI 11567

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Source edition

Barber, Mary, ca. 1690-1757. Poems on Several Occasions [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1734, pp. 149-150. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T42622; DMI 519; Foxon p. 45) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 3644].)

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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 Mary Barber