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[Page [258]]
THE TRAVELLERS IN HASTE;
ADDRESSED TO THOMAS CLARKSON, ESQ. IN 1814, WHEN MANY ENGLISH ARRIVED AT PARIS, BUT REMAINED A VERY SHORT TIME.
1 LOV'D ENGLAND! now the narrow sea
2 In vain would sep'rate France and thee:
3 May fav'ring zephyrs swell the sail
4 That wafts the crowd my wishes hail!
5 Strangers to me, they hither roam,
6 But English accents speak of home;
7 And SCOTIA, still more dear to me
8 Are those which lead me back to thee!
[Page 259]9 Accents that wake with magic powers
10 The spirits of departed hours! —
11 Ah, lost to me thy fir-clad hills,
12 The music of thy mountain-rills, —
13 Yet ever shall the mem'ry last,
14 "Pleasant and mournful" of the past.
15 But here, from scenes so new, so strange,
16 Where meditation long might range,
17 And taste might fix her ardent eye,
18 How swift the rapid travellers fly!
19 What haste to come, what haste to go,
20 Unknowing half they wish to know;
21 Delighted as they rush along,
22 But not less eager to be gone.
23 In vain the arts unfold their gates,
24 For there no stranger ever waits;
25 In vain unlock that wealth sublime
26 Immortal genius wrests from time: —
27 Ah, wherefore ope the classic book,
28 For those who have no time to look?
[Page 260]29 Who 'midst the academic bowers,
30 On BREGUET call to mark the hours;
31 Through the long gall'ry swift advance,
32 And judge perfection with a glance!
33 But to what class does he belong
34 Who comes less eager to be gone,
35 And yet inflexibly refuses
36 To heed the Arts, or court the Muses?
37 The groups that press to give th' "Apollo"
38 A parting glance, he scorns to follow;
39 In vain the "Venus" may expect
40 One look, and wonder at neglect;
41 For CLARKSON slights all forms of beauty, —
42 Not that he thinks indiff'rence duty,
43 But dearer pleasures fill the space
44 Of classic charms, and attic grace: —
45 He comes at this decisive hour
46 In Pity's cause, to plead with power;
47 His embassy is from the slave,
48 His diplomatic skill to save!
[Page 261]49 He comes the fetter'd to unbind,
50 To stipulate for half mankind;
51 And when applause records his name,
52 Sighs that philanthropy is fame.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): THE TRAVELLERS IN HASTE; ADDRESSED TO THOMAS CLARKSON, ESQ. IN 1814, WHEN MANY ENGLISH ARRIVED AT PARIS, BUT REMAINED A VERY SHORT TIME.
Author: Helen Maria Williams
Themes:
Genres:
occasional poem; address
Text view / Document view
Source edition
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. [258]-261. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [8º W 229 BS].)
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 Helen Maria Williams
- AN ADDRESS TO POETRY. ()
- AN AMERICAN TALE. ()
- THE BASTILLE, A VISION. ()
- THE CHARTER; ADDRESSED TO MY NEPHEW ATHANASE C. L. COQUEREL, ON HIS WEDDING DAY, 1819. ()
- THE COMPLAINT OF THE GODDESS OF THE GLACIERS TO DOCTOR DARWIN. ()
- DULCE DOMUM, AN OLD LATIN ODE. ()
- DUNCAN, AN ODE. ()
- EDWIN AND ELTRADA, A LEGENDARY TALE. (); EDWIN AND ELTRUDA. ()
- ELEGY ON A YOUNG THRUSH, WHICH ESCAPED FROM THE WRITER'S HAND, AND FALLING DOWN THE AREA OF A HOUSE, COULD NOT BE FOUND. ()
- EUPHELIA, AN ELEGY. ()
- HYMN, IMITATED FROM THE FRENCH. ()
- HYMN, WRITTEN AMONG THE ALPS. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- IMITATION OF LINES ADDRESSED BY M. D—, A YOUNG MAN OF TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF AGE, THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS EXECUTION, TO A YOUNG LADY TO WHOM HE WAS ENGAGED. — 1794. ()
- IMITATION OF LINES WRITTEN BY ROUCHER, BELOW HIS PICTURE, WHICH A FELLOW-PRISONER HAD DRAWN, AND WHICH HE SENT TO HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN THE DAY BEFORE HIS EXECUTION. — 1794. ()
- LINES ADDRESSED TO A. C., AN INFANT, ON HIS FIRST NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1821. ()
- LINES ON THE TOMB OF A FAVOURITE DOG. ()
- LINES TO HELEN, A NEW-BORN INFANT, 1821. ()
- LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF THE BARONESS D' H——, TO HER TWO DAUGHTERS. ()
- LINES WRITTEN ON THE PILLAR ERECTING TO THE MEMORY OF MR. BARLOW, Minister of the United States at Paris, WHO DIED AT NAROWITCH IN POLAND, ON HIS RETURN FROM WILNA, DEC. 26, 1812. ()
- THE LINNET AND THE CAT. ()
- THE MORAI. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- ON THE BILL WHICH WAS PASSED IN ENGLAND FOR REGULATING THE SLAVE-TRADE; A SHORT TIME BEFORE ITS ABOLITION. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PART OF AN IRREGULAR FRAGMENT. ()
- PERUVIAN TALES. ()
- QUEEN MARY'S COMPLAINT. ()
- SCOTCH BALLAD. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONNET ON READING BURNS' “MOUNTAIN DAISY.” ()
- SONNET TO DISAPPOINTMENT. ()
- SONNET TO EXPRESSION. ()
- SONNET TO HOPE. ()
- SONNET TO LOVE. ()
- SONNET TO MRS. BATES. ()
- SONNET TO MRS. SIDDONS. ()
- SONNET TO PEACE OF MIND. ()
- SONNET TO SIMPLICITY. ()
- SONNET TO THE CALBASSIA-TREE. ()
- SONNET TO THE CURLEW. ()
- SONNET TO THE MOON. ()
- SONNET TO THE STRAWBERRY. ()
- SONNET TO THE TORRID ZONE. ()
- SONNET TO THE WHITE-BIRD OF THE TROPIC. ()
- SONNET TO TWILIGHT. ()
- TO A FRIEND, WHO SENT ME FLOWERS, WHEN CONFINED BY ILLNESS. ()
- TO DR. MOORE, IN ANSWER TO A POETICAL EPISTLE WRITTEN TO ME BY HIM IN WALES, SEPTEMBER 1791. ()
- 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. ()
- TO JAMES FORBES, ESQ. ON HIS BRINGING ME FLOWERS FROM VAUCLUSE, AND WHICH HE HAD PRESERVED BY MEANS OF AN INGENIOUS PROCESS IN THEIR ORIGINAL BEAUTY. ()
- TO MRS. K—, ON HER SENDING ME ENGLISH CHRISTMAS PLUMB-CAKE, AT PARIS. ()
- TO SENSIBILITY. ()
- TO THE BARON DE HUMBOLDT, ON HIS BRINGING ME SOME FLOWERS IN MARCH. ()
- VERSES ADDRESSED TO MY TWO NEPHEWS, ON SAINT HELEN'S DAY, 1809. ()