VERSES ADDRESSED TO MY TWO NEPHEWS, ON SAINT HELEN'S DAY, 1809. Helen Maria Williams Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. 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 pp. [245]-250.

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VERSES ADDRESSED TO MY TWO NEPHEWS , ON SAINT HELEN'S DAY , 1809. DEAR Boys ! — dismiss'd awhile from school , From sober learning's thorny rule , — The annual race of glory run , The prize bestow'd , the laurels won , — Ye leave the scientific dome , While noisy rapture hails your home : Home — cherish'd spot ! whose magic power Can charm with hope the studious hour ; And where the heart — however far — Points , like the needle to its star ! And now , with many a fond oration , Ye ask , to crown this dear vacation , Saturnian time of sport and play , A FÊTE ! — to grace SAINT HELEN'S DAY ! But will the Saint propitious see A Fête dear Boys ! prepar'd for me ? I ! — who her altar never sought , An heretic ! who idly thought She liv'd alone in pagan fame , And half forgot her sainted name ! But — since that name , entwin'd with palms , The legend's deathless page embalms , And since historic truth must own Her crested votary fill'd a throne — We'll lay our offerings at her shrine , And call her , as she is , divine ! Then haste , dear Boys ! and deck the bowers , This chosen day , with festive flowers ! The votive bouquet joyful bring ; And bid your muse , on lofty wing , The steep Parnassian summits climb , And weave the tributary rhyme . The soothing song which ye rehearse — Though form'd of perishable verse , And , like the bouquet , born to die — Shall fill with tears affection's eye ; Shall touch , with eloquence confest , The chords which vibrate in her breast ! Then hither bring the early friend , With whom your bounding hearts unbend ; Till then , in vain the Fête prepared — What Fête , unless by friendship shar'd ? Together , happy band ! advance ; Together frame the sportive dance ; Together tread the mimic stage , The TALMAS of another age ; And then , to crown this favor'd night , Unquestion'd symbol of delight , The soaring rocket swift shall rise , And , sweeping , gild the midnight skies ; Bright wheels of fire shall rapid turn ; And suns , that soon must set , shall burn ; SAINT HELEN , with a smile , shall view Her rites all paid in order due . The Saint , become my patron now , To her and you I breathe my vow : Listen , dear Boys ! nor take amiss A lesson , with a parting kiss — Your life has clos'd its baby span , And childhood ripens into man : On youth's gay threshold now ye tread ; The path unfolds , with roses spread , That leads the unsuspecting guest Where Pleasure holds her Circean feast ; With bosoms yet from evil free , Now promise to the Saint and me , Oft as the years , on circling wing , This fond returning day shall bring , While o'er the world ye lightly roam , Far from the long-lost scene of home , This day in Pleasure's course to pause , This day let Reason plead her cause ! When come the years — for come they must — When her ye love is laid in dust ; Her who for you has learn'd to prove A mother's care — a mother's love ! From you all ill has sought to chase , And fill a mother's vacant place : Still on this day , to duty true , Remember that she liv'd for you ! Ah ! give her one recording sigh , Nor pass this day with tearless eye ! Still may its chosen hours impart The throb of virtue to the heart , And be the talisman whose spell Shall Passion's wild delirium quell ; Controul , with some good angel's power , Seduction in her smiling hour . This day , from all her wiles secure , With nobler hopes , with purpose pure , Resolve to feel that best delight Reserv'd for those who live aright : And thus , dear Boys ! your tribute pay ; Thus consecrate SAINT HELEN'S DAY !