[Page 246][Page 247]
LINES FOR A FRIEND'S ALBUM.
1 LINES, in addition to the treasure
2 Of poesy, culled for the pleasure
3 Of beau and belle and gentle dame,
4 When seated round the evening flame,
5 What time the social hour is waning,
6 And tardy coachman guests detaining, —
7 A courteous friend hath bid me write
8 Upon her Album's pages white.
9 But age the easy grace hath lost
10 That would become such pages most,
11 While of a quondam rhymester's skill,
12 Scarce aught is extant but the will;
13 And sober, stinted age must use
14 The school-girl's worn and stale excuse,
15 When, long her correspondent's debtor,
16 The apology becomes the letter.
17 Apologies for those who need 'em!
18 An Album is a thing of freedom,
19 Receiving all with right good will
20 That fortune sends from many a quill,
21 And then displays like scaly store
22 Which fisher's net brings to the shore:
23 The herring sheathed in silvery green,
24 The whiting in its pearly sheen,
25 The lithe and wavy eel that glides
26 Athwart the mackerel's tabbied sides;
27 John Dory with his dolphin head,
28 Where amber fins like horns are spread,
29 And flounder, sole, and thornback, all
30 In turn on some observer call
31 To mark each varied form and tint;
32 And from this simile a hint
33 Of some encouragement I take,
34 And humbly this my offering make,
35 Which if received with favour, truly
36 Will shew that I have reckoned duly
37 On what might homelier things commend, —
38 On the good nature of a friend.
Source edition
Baillie, Joanna, 1762-1851. Fugitive Verses. By Joanna Baillie, author of “Dramas on the Passions,“ etc. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXL., 1840, pp. 246-247. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [40.17].)
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 Joanna Baillie
- ADDRESS TO A STEAM VESSEL. ()
- ADDRESS TO THE MUSES. ()
- THE BANISHED MAN, ON A DISTANT VIEW OF HIS COUNTRY, WHICH HE IS QUITTING FOR EVER. ()
- THE BLACK COCK, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH AIR, CALLED “THE NOTE OF THE BLACK COCK.” ()
- A CHEERFUL-TEMPERED LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- A CHILD TO HIS SICK GRANDFATHER. ()
- DEVOTIONAL SONG FOR A NEGRO CHILD. ()
- A DISAPPOINTMENT. ()
- THE ELDEN TREE. A BALLAD. ()
- EPILOGUE TO THE THEATRICAL REPRESENTATION AT STRAWBERRY HILL, WRITTEN BY JOANNA BAILLIE AND SPOKEN BY THE HON. ANNE S. DAMER, NOVEMBER, 1800. ()
- FRAGMENT OF A POEM. ()
- FY, LET US A' TO THE WEDDING. (AN AULD SANG NEW BUSKIT.) ()
- HOOLY AND FAIRLY. (FOUNDED ON AIN OLD SCOTCH SONG.) ()
- THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. ()
- A HYMN FOR THE KIRK. ()
- HYMN FOR THE SCOTCH KIRK. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- JOB XIII. 15. ()
- THE KITTEN. ()
- A LAMENTATION. ()
- LINES ON THE DEATH OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. ()
- LINES ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM SOTHEBY, ESQ. ()
- LINES TO A PARROT. ()
- LINES TO A TEAPOT. ()
- LINES TO AGNES BAILLIE ON HER BIRTHDAY. ()
- LONDON. ()
- LORD JOHN OF THE EAST, A Ballad. ()
- MALCOLM'S HEIR. A TALE OF WONDER. ()
- A MELANCHOLY LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- THE MERRY BACHELOR, (FOUNDED ON THE OLD SCOTCH SONG OF “WILLIE WAS A WANTON WAG.”) ()
- THE MOODY SEER, A BALLAD. ()
- A MOTHER TO HER WAKING INFANT. ()
- NIGHT SCENES OF OTHER TIMES. A Poem, in Three Parts. ()
- A NURSERY LESSON (DEVOTIONAL). ()
- A POETICAL OR SOUND-HEARTED LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- A PROUD LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- A REVERIE. ()
- RHYMES FOR CHANTING. ()
- RHYMES. ()
- A SAILOR'S SONG ()
- SCHOOL RHYMES FOR NEGRO CHILDREN. ()
- A SCOTCH SONG. ()
- SECOND DEVOTIONAL SONG. ()
- A SECOND HYMN FOR THE KIRK. ()
- SECOND NURSERY LESSON (ADMONITORY). ()
- SELECT VERSES FROM THE 147TH PSALM. ()
- SIR MAURICE. A Ballad. ()
- SONG WRITTEN FOR THE STRAWBERRY HILL FOUNDLING PLAY, AND SUNG BY MRS. JOURDAIN. ()
- SONG, (FOR A SCOTCH AIR.) ()
- A SONG, (WRITTEN FOR MR. STRUTHER'S COLLECTION OF SONGS.) ()
- SONG, A NEW VERSION OF AN OLD SCOTCH SONG. ()
- SONG, CALLED THE COUNTRY LADY'S REVEILLIE. ()
- SONG, FOR AN IRISH AIR. ()
- SONG, FOR AN IRISH MELODY. ()
- SONG, POVERTY PARTS GOOD COMPANY, ()
- SONG, WOO'D AND MARRIED AND A', ()
- SONG, WRITTEN AT MR. THOMSON'S REQUEST, AS A KIND OF INTRODUCTION TO HIS IRISH MELODIES. ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH AIR, CALLED “THE NEW YEAR'S GIFT.” ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH AIR, CALLED “THE PURSUIT OF LOVE.” ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH MELODY. ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR AN IRISH AIR. ()
- A SONG, WRITTEN FOR AN IRISH MELODY. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. (TO THE SCOTCH AIR OF “MY NANNY O.”) ()
- ST. JOHN XXI. 1. ()
- ST. LUKE VII. 12. ()
- ST. LUKE XVIII. 16. ()
- ST. MATTHEW V. 9. ()
- A SUMMER'S DAY. ()
- THIRD DEVOTIONAL SONG. ()
- A THIRD HYMN FOR THE KIRK. ()
- THOUGHTS TAKEN FROM THE 93RD PSALM. ()
- THUNDER. ()
- TO A CHILD. ()
- TO MRS. SIDDONS. ()
- TO SOPHIA J. BAILLIE, AN INFANT. ()
- THE TRAVELLER BY NIGHT IN NOVEMBER. ()
- TWO BROTHERS. ()
- TWO SONGS. ()
- VERSES SENT TO MRS. BAILLIE ON HER BIRTHDAY, 1813. ()
- VERSES TO OUR OWN FLOWERY KIRTLED SPRING. ()
- VERSES WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY, 1827. ()
- VOLUNTEER'S SONG, WRITTEN IN 1803. ()
- A WINTER'S DAY. ()