[Page 85]

TO MISS B—SH, OF BRISTOL.

1 BEFORE I seek the dreary shore,
2 Where Gambia's rapid billows roar,
3 And foaming pour along;
4 To you I urge the plaintive strain,
5 And tho' a lover sings in vain,
6 Yet you shall hear the song
7 Ungrateful, cruel, lovely maid,
8 Since all my torments were repaid
9 With frowns or languid sneers;
10 With assiduities no more
11 Your captive will your health implore,
12 Or tease you with his tears.
13 Now to the regions where the sun
14 Does his hot course of glory run,
15 And parches up the ground:
16 Where o'er the burning cleaving plains,
17 A long external dog-star reigns,
18 And splendor flames around:
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19 There will I go, yet not to find
20 A fire intenser than my mind,
21 Which burns a constant flame:
22 There will I lose thy heavenly form,
23 Nor shall remembrance, raptur'd, warm,
24 Draw shadows of thy frame.
25 In the rough element the sea,
26 I'll drown the softer subject, thee,
27 And sink each lovely charm:
28 No more my bosom shall be torne;
29 No more by wild ideas borne,
30 I'll cherish the alarm.
31 Yet, Polly, could thy heart be kind,
32 Soon would my feeble purpose sind
33 Thy sway within my breast:
34 But hence, soft scenes of painted woe,
35 Spite of the dear delight I'll go,
36 Forget her, and be blest.
D. CELORIMON.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): TO MISS B—SH, OF BRISTOL.
Author: Thomas Chatterton
Themes:
Genres: ode; address

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Source edition

Chatterton, Thomas, 1752-1770. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse; by Thomas Chatterton, the supposed author of the poems published under the names of Rowley, Canning, &c. London: printed for Fielding and Walker, Pater-Noster Row, MDCCLXXVIII., 1778, pp. 85-86. xxxii,245,[3]p.,plates; 8⁰. (ESTC T39457; OTA K039720.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 696 (1)].)

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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.

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