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SONNET [11] XI. To Sleep.

1 COME balmy Sleep! tir'd Nature's soft resort!
2 On these sad temples all thy poppies shed;
3 And bid gay dreams from Morpheus' airy court,
4 Float in light vision round my aching head!
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LINE 4.

Float in light vision round my aching head.
Float in light vision round the poet's head.
Mason.
5 Secure of all thy blessings, partial Power!
6 On his hard bed the peasant throws him down;
7 And the poor sea boy, in the rudest hour,
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LINE 7.

And the poor sea boy, in the rudest hour,
Enjoys thee more than he who wears a crown.
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude impetuous surge? &c.
Shakespeare's Henry IV.
8 Enjoys thee more than he who wears a crown.
9 Clasp'd in her faithful shepherd's guardian arms,
10 Well may the village girl sweet slumbers prove;
11 And they, O gentle Sleep! still taste thy charms,
12 Who wake to labour, liberty and love.
13 But still thy opiate aid dost thou deny
14 To calm the anxious breast; to close the streaming eye.

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Title (in Source Edition): SONNET [11] XI. To Sleep.
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Genres: sonnet

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Source edition

Smith, Charlotte Turner, 1749-1806. Elegiac sonnets, and other poems. By Charlotte Smith. The first Worcester edition, from the sixth London edition, with additions. Printed at Worcester [Mass.]: by Isaiah Thomas, sold by him in Worcester, and by said Thomas and Andrews in Boston, 1795, p. 31. xix,[2],22-126,[2]p.,[5] leaves of plates: ill.; 15 cm. (12mo) (OTA N22357)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, 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 Charlotte Smith (née Turner)