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[Page [37]][Page 38][Page 39]
UPON A YOUNG LADY'S LEAVING LOUDOUN CASTLE.
1 WHAT means this silent, solitary gloom?
2 All nature in her dishabille appears;
3 Contracted flow'rets yield no sweet perfume,
4 And ev'ry grove a dismal aspect wears.
5 Nor do the joys of Autumn glad our plains;
6 Our landscapes are in sable weeds array'd;
7 No jocund sound is heard among the swains,
8 And nought but sighs from each dejected maid.
9 Rude Eurus echoing through the distant woods,
10 With harsh, discordant note, augments our wo;
11 While rains, impetuous, from the bursting clouds,
12 Our verdant walks and pleasure-grounds o'erflow.
13 Incumber'd by their foliage now, the trees,
14 With leaves, untimely dropp'd, bestrew the ground:
15 Because Matilda's presence does not please,
16 All bleak and dismal seem the fields around.
17 Her placid looks bespoke a mind serene,
18 Each feature wore an unaffected smile;
19 Her's was the pow'r to beautify the scene,
20 And sweetly gay the languid hours beguile.
21 Her count'nance milder than an April morn,
22 When Phoebus first emits his infant rays;
23 More radiant beauties do her mind adorn,
24 Than ere were brighten'd by his noon-tide blaze.
25 Fair Virtue, cloth'd in all it's native sweets,
26 Celestial precepts in her breast inlaid;
27 And oft, as friendly intercourse invites,
28 In softest accents from her lips convey'd.
29 But now she's gone, a sullen sadness reigns!
30 Absorb'd in grief we still her absence mourn,
31 Or beg that heaven would smile upon our plains,
32 And grant a blessing in her swift return.
About this text
Author: Janet Little (later Richmond)
Themes:
Genres:
heroic quatrain; occasional poem
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. [37]-39. (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 COUNTESS OF LOUDOUN. ()
- TO THE PUBLIC. ()
- THE UNFORTUNATE RAMBLER. ()
- UPON A YOUNG LADY'S BREAKING A LOOKING-GLASS. ()
- 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. ()