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[Page 107]ON THE DEATH OF MRS. JENNINGS. *
ON THE DEATH OF MRS. JENNINGS. ** The Author's Grandmother.
Est tamen quieté, & puré, & eleganter actae aetatis,
placida ac lenis senectus.
Cicero de Senect.
1 'TIS past: dear venerable shade, farewel!
2 Thy blameless life thy peaceful death shall tell.
3 Clear to the last thy setting orb has run;
4 Pure, bright, and healthy like a frosty sun:
[Page 108]5 And late old age with hand indulgent shed
6 Its mildest winter on thy favour'd head.
7 For Heaven prolong'd her life to spread its praise,
8 And blest her with a Patriarch's length of days.
9 The truest praise was hers, a chearful heart,
10 Prone to enjoy, and ready to impart.
11 An Israelite indeed, and free from guile,
12 She show'd that piety and age could smile.
13 Religion had her heart, her cares, her voice;
14 'Twas her last refuge, as her earliest choice.
15 To holy Anna's spirit not more dear
16 The church of Israel, and the house of prayer.
17 Her spreading offspring of the fourth degree
18 Fill'd her fond arms, and clasp'd her trembling knee.
19 Matur'd at length for some more perfect scene,
20 Her hopes all bright, her prospects all serene,
21 Each part of life sustain'd with equal worth,
22 And not a wish left unfulfill'd on earth,
[Page 109]23 Like a tir'd traveller with sleep opprest,
24 Within her childrens' arms she dropt to rest.
25 Farewel! thy cherish'd image, ever dear,
26 Shall many a heart with pious love revere:
27 Long, long shall mine her honour'd memory bless,
28 Who gave the dearest blessing I possess.
About this text
Themes:
Genres:
heroic couplet
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Source edition
Barbauld, Mrs. (Anna Letitia), 1743-1825. Poems. London: printed for Joseph Johnson, 1773, pp. 107-109. vi,138p. ; 4⁰. (ESTC T236; OTA K019955.000) (Page images digitized by New York Public Library.)
Editorial principles
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 Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin)
- An ADDRESS to the DEITY. ()
- CHARACTERS. ()
- CORSICA. ()
- DELIA, AN ELEGY. ()
- The GROANS of the TANKARD. ()
- HYMN I. ()
- HYMN II. ()
- HYMN III. For EASTER-SUNDAY. ()
- HYMN IV. ()
- HYMN to CONTENT. ()
- HYMN V. ()
- The INVITATION: To MISS B—. ()
- The MOUSE's PETITION, Found in the TRAP where he had been confin'd all Night. ()
- ODE to SPRING. ()
- On a LADY's WRITING. ()
- ON THE Backwardness of the SPRING 1771. ()
- THE ORIGIN OF SONG-WRITING. ()
- OVID to his WIFE: Imitated from different Parts of his TRISTIA. ()
- SONG II. ()
- SONG III. ()
- SONG IV. ()
- SONG V. ()
- SONG VI. ()
- [SONG] I. ()
- A Summer Evening's Meditation. ()
- To a LADY, With some painted FLOWERS. ()
- To MISS R—, On her Attendance on her Mother at BUXTON. ()
- To MRS. P—, With some Drawings of BIRDS and INSECTS. ()
- To WISDOM. ()
- VERSES on MRS. ROWE. ()
- VERSES written in an Alcove. ()