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[Page [25]]
TO THE COUNTESS OF LOUDOUN.
1 WILL gentle LOUDOUN deign to lend an ear,
2 When nature speaks, and sorrow drops a tear?
3 Within your walls my happiness I found
4 Luxuriant flourish, like the plants around:
5 Blithe as the birds that perch on yonder spray,
6 In joyous notes, I pour'd the willing lay.
7 Beneath your roof there humble lines had birth,
8 Whose honour'd Patrons now lie low in earth;
[Page 26]9 Or borne by Fate far from their native shore,
10 With smiles auspicious glad my heart no more.
11 Here youth and beauty, innocence and love,
12 I joy'd to see, to serve, and to approve:
13 Here honour'd Age to all around did show,
14 That virtue's paths alone can bliss bestow:
15 Here moral lessons spoke from ev'ry part,
16 And peace and kindness wrote them on my heart.
17 Hoary inhabitants around the place,
18 Whose faithful services obtain'd that grace,
19 'Mid ev'ry comfort rural life affords,
20 Shower prayers and blessings, on its former Lords.
21 To you the young are taught to lift the eye,
22 Mild morning sun of their unclouded sky.
23 Blest in a lot left nothing to desire,
24 Those happy scenes did future hopes inspire,
25 That thus my life in careless ease might run,
26 My age supported by my master's son;
[Page 27]27 In him, that goodness, and those virtues find,
28 Which grateful numbers meet in you combin'd.
29 Ah! like a changeful vision of the night,
30 Those scenes are fled, and death appals my sight!
31 Where'er I turn, lamented tombs appear,
32 Or parting sails extort the bitter tear!
33 To distant realms the darling child too gone;
34 O guard him heav'n, and let me weep alone!
35 For ev'ry tear, let countless blessings fall
36 On thy sad mother in thy grandsire's hall!
37 Forgive, fair nymph, the dictates of despair;
38 Grief flies, for comfort, to the tender fair.
39 The good and great, we fondly think have pow'rs,
40 Can charm to ease our sad and anxious hours:
41 Else why to you should I at Fate repine?
42 The friends I mourn, alas! were doubly thine!
[Page 28]43 For their dear sakes, bid lines they priz'd still live,
44 And grant that shelter they no more can give.
45 Yet, the sad verse how should you patronize
46 That wakes up anguish in a heart at ease!
47 For their dear sakes my pray'rs are ever thine,
48 Nor can I more were your protection mine.
About this text
Author: Janet Little (later Richmond)
Themes:
Genres:
heroic couplet; dedication
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Little, Janet, 1759-1813. The Poetical Works of Janet Little, the Scotch Milkmaid. Air: Printed by John & Peter Wilson, 1792, pp. [25]-28. (ESTC T126549) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Library of the University of California, Los Angeles.)
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 Janet Little (later Richmond)
- AN ACROSTIC UPON A YOUNG WOMAN, WRITTEN BY HER LOVER. ()
- ALCANZAR. ()
- ALMEDA AND FLAVIA. ()
- AMANDA: AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MRS. —, PERSONATING HER HUSBAND. ()
- ANOTHER EPISTLE TO NELL. ()
- THE CAPTIVATED SOLDIER. ()
- CELIA AND HER LOOKING GLASS. ()
- COLIN AND ALEXIS. ()
- DAMON AND PHILANDER. ()
- THE ENVIED KISS. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO A LADY. November, 1789. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO MR. ROBERT BURNS. ()
- EPISTLE TO NELL, WROTE FROM LOUDOUN CASTLE. ()
- AN EXTEMPORARY ACROSTIC. ()
- THE FICKLE PAIR. ()
- FROM ALONZO TO DELIA. ()
- FROM DELIA TO ALONZO. ()
- FROM DELIA TO ALONZO. WHO HAD SENT HER A SLIGHTING EPISTLE. ()
- FROM FLAVIA TO CARLOS. ()
- FROM PHILANDER TO EUMENES. ()
- FROM SNIPE, A FAVOURITE DOG, TO HIS MASTER. May, 1791. ()
- GIVEN TO A LADY WHO ASKED ME TO WRITE A POEM. ()
- LOTHARIO. ()
- THE LOTTERY TICKET. ()
- LUCINA: AN ELEGY. ()
- THE MONTH'S LOVE. ()
- NELL'S ANSWER. ()
- ON A GENTLEMAN'S PROPOSING TO TRAVEL 300 MILES TO SEE J—. H—. ESQ.'S CHILD. ()
- ON A VISIT TO MR. BURNS. ()
- ON AN UNLOOKED-FOR SEPARATION FROM A FRIEND. ()
- ON HALLOWEEN. ()
- ON HAPPINESS. ()
- ON READING LADY MARY MONTAGUE AND MRS. ROWE'S LETTERS. ()
- ON SEEING MR. — BAKING CAKES. ()
- ON THE BIRTH OF J—. H—. ESQ.'S SON. NOVEMBER 15, 1790. ()
- ON THE DEATH OF J—. H—. ESQ. JUNE, 1790. ()
- ON THE SPRING. ()
- A POEM ON CONTENTMENT. INSCRIBED TO JANET NICOL, A POOR OLD WANDERING WOMAN, WHO LIVES BY THE WALL AT LOUDOUN AND USED SOMETIMES TO BE VISITED BY THE COUNTESS. ()
- THE RIVAL SWAINS. ()
- SYLVIA AND ARMEDA. ()
- TO A LADY WHO SENT THE AUTHOR SOME PAPER WITH A READING OF SILLAR'S POEMS. ()
- TO A LADY, A PATRONESS OF THE MUSES, ON HER RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS. ()
- TO A YOUNG MAN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH FOR FORGERY. FROM HIS MISTRESS. ()
- TO HOPE. ()
- TO MY AUNTY. ()
- TO NELL WHEN AT MOFFAT WELL. ()
- TO THE PUBLIC. ()
- THE UNFORTUNATE RAMBLER. ()
- UPON A YOUNG LADY'S BREAKING A LOOKING-GLASS. ()
- UPON A YOUNG LADY'S LEAVING LOUDOUN CASTLE. ()
- VERSES WRITTEN ON A FOREIGNER'S VISITING THE GRAVE OF A SWISS GENTLEMAN, BURIED AMONG THE DESCENDENTS OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE, GUARDIAN OF SCOTLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. ()
- WILLIAM AND MARY. ()
- WRITTEN JANUARY FIRST, 1792. ()
- A YOUNG LADY'S LAMENTATION FOR THE LOSS OF HER SISTER BY MARRIAGE. ()
- THE YOUNG MAN'S RESOLUTION. ()