TO MISS B—SH, OF BRISTOL. Thomas Chatterton 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. T39457 K039720.000 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.

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TO MISS B—SH , OF BRISTOL . BEFORE I seek the dreary shore , Where Gambia's rapid billows roar , And foaming pour along ; To you I urge the plaintive strain , And tho' a lover sings in vain , Yet you shall hear the song Ungrateful , cruel , lovely maid , Since all my torments were repaid With frowns or languid sneers ; With assiduities no more Your captive will your health implore , Or tease you with his tears . Now to the regions where the sun Does his hot course of glory run , And parches up the ground : Where o'er the burning cleaving plains , A long external dog-star reigns , And splendor flames around : There will I go , yet not to find A fire intenser than my mind , Which burns a constant flame : There will I lose thy heavenly form , Nor shall remembrance , raptur'd , warm , Draw shadows of thy frame . In the rough element the sea , I'll drown the softer subject , thee , And sink each lovely charm : No more my bosom shall be torne ; No more by wild ideas borne , I'll cherish the alarm . Yet , Polly , could thy heart be kind , Soon would my feeble purpose sind Thy sway within my breast : But hence , soft scenes of painted woe , Spite of the dear delight I'll go , Forget her , and be blest . D. CELORIMON .