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ODE TO THE OLD YEAR,
1787.
1 LET courtly bards, in courtly lay,
2 Invoke the muse on New Year's day,
3 Prophetic, future times unfold,
4 Or tell again the tales of old;
5 For me, I sing, in strains sincere,
6 A grateful tribute due to the departed year.
7 Glad I behold our native isle
8 In wealth, in peace, in honours smile;
9 The balance hold with steady hand,
10 And discord cease at her command:
11 The dogs of war compell'd to wait,
12 And Janus close again his half unfolded gate.
13 I love the months whose calm career
14 Have left me what my heart holds dear;
15 They gave me health, and peace, and ease;
16 Who would not sing for gifts like these?
17 With me, the sense must still remain,
18 And mark this polish'd link of time's eternal chain.
19 Time, the consoler, slowly brings
20 Peace on his variegated wings;
21 He steals away the rose, 'tis true,
22 But then the thorn is blunted too;
23 Before him hope's illusions fly,
24 And all imagination's vain chimeras die.
25 The bitter griefs, the fleeting joys,
26 Which fancy's busy power employs,
27 To retrospective reason seem
28 The phantoms of a troubled dream:
29 The feverish vision fades away,
30 And leaves the soul in peace its tenement of clay.
31 I view the social circle round,
32 And ev'ry well known face is found.
33 My heart expands within my breast,
34 Each selfish, gloomy care at rest,
35 Joyful I sing, in strains sincere,
36 Praise to the Power Supreme, who guides the circling year.
Source edition
Hunter, Anne Home (Mrs. John), 1742-1821. Poems, by Mrs. John Hunter. London: Printed for T. Payne, Mews Gate, by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 1802, pp. 6-8. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [280 e.4058].)
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 Anne Hunter (née Home)
- ADDRESSED TO MRS. G. OF THE PRIORY, CORNWALL. ()
- A BALLAD OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ()
- [BIRTHDAY ODE] TO MY SON AT SCHOOL, AGED 13, JUNE 11. ()
- [BIRTHDAY ODE] TO THE SAME, AGED 15, AT CAMBRIDGE. ()
- [BIRTHDAY ODE] TO THE SAME, AGED 23, A LIEUTENANT IN THE ARMY, THEN WITH HIS REGIMENT IN CORSICA, 1793. ()
- [BIRTHDAY ODE] TO THE SAME, AGED 26, A CAPTAIN OF INFANTRY IN PORTUGAL, 1798. ()
- CARISBROOK CASTLE, A POEM, WITH NOTES. ()
- THE DEATH SONG, WRITTEN FOR, AND ADAPTED TO, AN ORIGINAL INDIAN AIR. ()
- THE DIRGE OF AMORET. ()
- ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM SEWARD, ESQ. WHO DIED APRIL 24, 1799. ()
- ELEGY. ()
- EPITAPH FOR MY FATHER. ()
- FAIRY REVELS, A SONG. ()
- THE FAREWELL, A SONG. ()
- THE GENIUS OF THE MOUNTAINS OF BALAGATA, IN THE EAST INDIES, BEWAILS THE MISERIES BOUGHT UPON HIS COUNTRY. ()
- LA DOUCE CHIMERE. ()
- THE LAMENTATION OF MARY STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTS, ADAPTED TO A VERY ANCIENT SCOTTISH AIR, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN HER OWN COMPOSITION. ()
- LAURA TO PETRARCH. ()
- LAURA. ()
- LELIA; OR, THE MANIAC'S SONG. ()
- MAY DAY. ()
- A MERMAID'S SONG. ()
- NOVEMBER, 1784. ()
- ODE TO CONDUIT VALE, BLACKHEATH. ()
- REMEMBRANCE, A SONG. ()
- THE ROUNDELAY. ()
- THE SONG AT MARIA'S GRAVE. IN TWO PARTS. ()
- THE SONG OF THE WANDERING LADY, FOUNDED ON A TRUE STORY. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONNET, AFTER THE DEATH OF LAURA. ()
- THE SPIRIT'S SONG. ()
- TIME. ()
- TO A FRIEND ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. ()
- TO JAMES BARRY, ESQ. ON THE DESIGN OF HIS SERIES OF PICTURES PAINTED FOR THE SOCIETY INSTITUTED FOR THE PROMOTING ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ()
- TO Mrs. DELAINY, UPON THE MARKS OF ROYAL BOUNTY WHICH SHE RECEIVED AT A VERY ADVANCED AGE, AFTER THE DEATH OF HER FRIEND THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND, IN 1786. ()
- TO MY DAUGHTER, ON BEING SEPARATED FROM HER ON HER MARRIAGE ()
- TO THE MEMORY OF A LOVELY INFANT, WRITTEN SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH. ()
- TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS CHATTERTON. ()
- TO THE NIGHTINGALE. ()
- A VOW TO FORTUNE. ()
- WILLIAM AND NANCY, A BALLAD. ()
- WINTER, A SONNET. ()