TO JAMES FORBES, ESQ. Author of “The Oriental Memoirs,” WHO ASKED FOR SOME LINES OF MY HAND-WRITING ON LEAVING FRANCE, AFTER HIS CAPTIVITY AT VERDUN. 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. [251]-252.

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TO JAMES FORBES , ESQ . Author of “ The Oriental Memoirs , ” WHO ASKED FOR SOME LINES OF MY HAND-WRITING ON LEAVING FRANCE , AFTER HIS CAPTIVITY AT VERDUN . Mr. Forbes , well-known in the literary world , was claimed by the Royal Society of London , in a letter addressed to the Institute of France ; his particular talent for drawing was mentioned to Buonaparte , and the very remarkable circumstance of his being in possession of several thousand sketches he had taken of the scenery of different parts of the globe which he had visited . Buonaparte ordered him and his family to be immediately set at liberty . Mr. Forbes is now no more ! but to those who knew him he has left a void which will not easily be filled up : — they will long remember that enthusiastic love of nature which gave elevation to his mind ; that extreme simplicity of manners , which has such a peculiar charm when united with superior intellect , and proceeding , not from ignorance of the world , but from having passed through it with a purity unsullied by its contact ; that virtue which the seductions of wealth , and the corruptions of the east , had no power to alter ; and that piety which has found its reward . WHEN sever'd from this hostile shore , A weary captive now no more , Home , cherish'd home , shall glad your sight In blessedness of fresh delight ; While love shall weave new spells around That spot of consecrated ground , Where sweet domestic joy imparts The charm that binds congenial hearts , And filial tenderness prepares A balm for all terrestrial cares : — Forget not , — ah , forget not those Who sought to soothe the captive's woes ! Exult , be happy , and be free , But give one pensive thought to me !