[Page 209]

SONNET

TO MRS. BATES.

1 O THOU, whose melody the heart obeys,
2 Thou, who can'st all its subject passions move,
3 Whose notes to heav'n the list'ning soul can raise,
4 Can thrill with pity, or can melt with love!
5 Happy! whom nature lent this native charm,
6 Angelic tones, that shed, with magic power,
7 A sweeter pleasure o'er the social hour:
8 The breast to softness soothe, to virtue warm;
9 But yet more happy, that thy life as clear
10 From discord as thy perfect cadence flows;
11 That, tun'd to sympathy, thy faithful tear
12 In mild accordance falls for others' woes;
13 That all the tender, pure affections bind,
14 In chains of harmony, thy willing mind!

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Title (in Source Edition): SONNET TO MRS. BATES.
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Genres: sonnet

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Williams, Helen Maria, 1759-1827. Poems on various subjects: with introductory remarks on the present state of science and literature in France. London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1823, p. 209.  (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [8º W 229 BS].)

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Other works by Helen Maria Williams