SONNET [11] XI. To Sleep. Charlotte Smith (née Turner) Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. N22357 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)

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SONNET [ 11 ] XI . To Sleep . COME balmy Sleep ! tir'd Nature's soft resort ! On these sad temples all thy poppies shed ; And bid gay dreams from Morpheus' airy court , Float in light vision round my aching head !

Float in light vision round my aching head . Float in light vision round the poet's head . Mason .

Secure of all thy blessings , partial Power ! On his hard bed the peasant throws him down ; And the poor sea boy , in the rudest hour ,

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 .

Enjoys thee more than he who wears a crown . Clasp'd in her faithful shepherd's guardian arms , Well may the village girl sweet slumbers prove ; And they , O gentle Sleep ! still taste thy charms , Who wake to labour , liberty and love . But still thy opiate aid dost thou deny To calm the anxious breast ; to close the streaming eye .