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[Page 194][Page 195]
O WHY SHOULD MORTALS SUFFER CARE.
Air — Give round the word Dismount.
1 O why should mortals suffer care
2 To rob them of their present joy?
3 The moments that frail life can spare
4 Why should we not in mirth employ?
5 Then come, my friends, this very hour
6 Let us devote to social glee;
7 To-morrow is a day unseen
8 That may destroy the fairest flower,
9 And bring dull care to you and me,
10 Though so gay as we have been.
11 The wretch who money makes his god
12 Will feel his heart ache when 'tis gone;
13 Were this my lot I'd kiss the rod,
14 I ne'er had much, and care for none.
Then come, &c.
15 The great had never charms for me,
16 I follow not their chariot's wheel,
17 Their faults I just as plain can see
18 As Paris did Achilles' heel.
Then come, &c.
19 And Love, with all his softening powers,
20 Could ne'er my hardy soul subdue;
21 So I'll devote my social hours
22 To mirth, to happiness, and you.
Then come, &c.
23 Should dread of future ills molest,
24 I'd charm them from my careless heart;
25 See, Hope steps in, all gaily drest,
26 And vows such souls should never part.
Then come, &c.
27 Yet part we must, — Hope, thou'rt a cheat
28 The vision's fled — the friends are gone;
29 Yet memory shall their words repeat,
30 And fonder grow of every one.
31 But still in absence let us try
32 To think of all the pleasure past,
[Page 196]33 And stop the tear, and check the sigh;
34 For though such pleasure cannot last,
35 Yet Time may still renew the scene
36 Where so gay as we have been. 1.
1. This song has long been exceedingly popular in Cumberland, and is generally sung at the social parties in and about Carlisle.
Source edition
Blamire, Susanna, 1747-1794. The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire “The muse of Cumberland.” Now for the first time collected by Henry Lonsdale, M.D. with a preface, memoir, and notes by Patrick Maxwell, ... Edinburgh: John Menzies, 61 Princes Street; R. Tyas, London; D. Robertson, Glasgow; and C. Thurnam, Carlisle. MDCCCXLII., 1842, pp. 194-196. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [42.256].)
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 Susanna Blamire
- 'TWAS WHEN THE SUN SLID DOWN YON HILL. ()
- ADDRESS TO HEALTH. — 1784. ()
- ADDRESS TO MISS J. GALE ON HER MARRIAGE WITH THE REV. F. GRAHAM, RECTOR OF ARTHURET. ()
- THE ADIEU AND RECALL TO LOVE. ()
- AE NIGHT IN DARK DECEMBER. ()
- AGAIN MAUN ABSENCE CHILL MY SOUL. ()
- THE AULD CARLE WAD TAK ME FAIN. ()
- AULD ROBIN FORBES. ()
- BARLEY BROTH. ()
- BEHOLD, MY AMANDA. ()
- THE BOWER OF ELEGANCE. ADDRESSED TO A VERY ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN. ()
- BRIDE-CAKE. ()
- A CALL TO HOPE. 22D MAY, 1792. ()
- A CAUTION TO MISS B. ()
- THE CHELSEA PENSIONERS. ()
- COME, MORTALS, ENLIVEN THE HOUR. ()
- THE CUMBERLAND SCOLD. ()
- A CURE FOR LOVE. ()
- DEAR NANCY. ()
- THE DESCENT OF PITY. 20TH NOVEMBER, 1781. ()
- EDWIN AND ALICIA. A TALE. ()
- AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MRS DACRE. ()
- EPISTLE TO HER FRIENDS AT GARTMORE. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO MISS ISABELLA GRAHAM OF GARTMORE. ()
- THE FAREWELL TO AFFECTION. ()
- FOR THE CARLISLE HUNT. November, 1788 ()
- HAD MY DADDIE LEFT ME GEAR ENOUGH. ()
- HOPE. ()
- I AM OF A TEMPER FIXED AS A DECREE. ()
- I'LL HAE A NEW COATIE. ()
- I'M TIBBY FOWLER O' THE GLEN. ()
- I'VE GOTTEN A ROCK, I'VE GOTTEN A REEL. ()
- IN THAT EYE WHERE EXPRESSION. ()
- IN THE DREAM OF THE MOMENT. ()
- IN THE SEARCH OF GOOD HUMOUR. ()
- THE INVITATION. TO TWO SISTERS. ()
- LETTERS OF THE LOVERS. ()
- THE LILY OF THE VALLEY, CHOSEN THE EMBLEM OF INNOCENCE. ()
- THE LILY'S TRIUMPH OVER THE ROSE. ()
- THE LOSS OF THE ROEBUCK. ()
- MAY NOT THE LOVE OF PRAISE BE AN INCENTIVE TO VIRTUE? ()
- THE MEETING. ()
- MOONLIGHT. ()
- THE NABOB. ()
- NAY, NAY, CENSOR TIME. ()
- NOW SANDY MAUN AWA. ()
- THE NUN'S RETURN TO THE WORLD, BY THE DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE, FEBRUARY, 1790. ()
- O BID ME NOT TO WANDER. Written when earnestly entreated to go to the South of France for the recovery of her health. ()
- O DINNA THINK, MY BONNIE LASS. ()
- O DONALD! YE ARE JUST THE MAN. ()
- O JENNY DEAR, I'VE COURTED LANG. ()
- O JENNY DEAR, THE WORD IS GANE. ()
- O JENNY DEAR. ()
- O THERE IS NOT A SHARPER DART. ()
- O WHERE IS THE SPLENDOUR. ()
- OLD HARRY'S RETURN. ()
- ON COLLINS'S ODE ON THE PASSIONS, AS RECITED BY MRS ESTEN ()
- ON IMAGINED HAPPINESS IN HUMBLE STATIONS. ()
- ON THE DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF MY FRIEND MRS L. 13TH MAY, 1788. ()
- ON THE MARRIAGE OF MISS JOHANNA GALE WITH THE REV. P. GRAHAM, RECTOR OF ARTHURET. 18TH FEBRUARY, 1792. ()
- A PETITION TO APRIL. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS, 1793. ()
- PITY'S DESCENT TO EARTH, AND ADVICE TO FRIENDSHIP. ()
- THE RECALL TO AFFECTION. ()
- THE SILLER CROUN. ()
- THE SOLDIER'S RETURN. ()
- SPRING. APRIL, 1786. ()
- STOKLEWATH; OR, THE CUMBRIAN VILLAGE. ()
- THOUGH BACCHUS MAY BOAST. ()
- TO A LADY WHO WENT INTO THE COUNTRY IN APRIL. ()
- TO A LADY, WHO FREQUENTLY WITHDREW FROM COMPANY. ()
- TO THE FLOWER LOVE-IN-IDLENESS, AND A PETITION TO THE FAIRIES TO BRING INDIFFERENCE. ()
- TO-MORROW. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS. ()
- THE TOILING DAY HIS TASK HAS DUIN. ()
- THE WAEFU' HEART. ()
- WE'VE HED SEC A DURDUM. ()
- WEY, NED, MAN! ()
- WHAT AILS THIS HEART O' MINE! ()
- WHEN HOME WE RETURN. ()
- WHEN NIGHT'S DARK MANTLE. ()
- WHEN SEVEREST FOES IMPENDING. ()
- WHEN THE SOFT TEAR STEALS SILENTLY. ()
- WHEN THE SUNBEAMS OF JOY. ()
- WRITTEN IN A CHURCHYARD, ON SEEING A NUMBER OF CATTLE GRAZING IN IT. ()
- WRITTEN ON A GLOOMY DAY, IN SICKNESS. THACKWOOD, 4TH JUNE, 1786. ()