![[frontispiece]](/images/authors/colour-portraits/banner-frontispiece.jpg)
![[section of text]](/images/screenshots/ECPA-snippet5.jpg)
![[poet writing]](/images/authors/colour-portraits/banner-poet.jpg)
[Page 12][Page 14]
A NIGHT-PIECE; OR, MODERN PHILOSOPHY.
ODE III.
Dicetur meritâ nox quoque noeniâ. HOR.
1 'TWAS when bright Cynthia with her silver car,
2 Soft stealing from Endymion's bed,
3 Had call'd forth ev'ry glitt'ring star,
4 And up th' ascent of heav'n her brilliant host had led.
5 Night, with all her negro train,
6 Took possession of the plain;
[Page 13]7 In an hearse she rode reclin'd,
8 Drawn by screech-owls slow and blind:
9 Close to her, with printless feet,
10 Crept Stillness, in a winding sheet.
11 Next to her deaf Silence was seen,
12 Treading on tip toes over the green;
13 Softly, lightly, gently she trips,
14 Still holding her fingers seal'd to her lips.
15 You could not see a sight,
16 You could not hear a sound,
17 But what confess'd the night,
18 And horror deepen'd round.
19 Beneath a myrtle's melancholy shade,
20 Sophron the wise was laid:
21 And to the answ'ring wood these sounds convey'd:
22 While others toil within the town,
23 And to Fortune smile or frown,
24 Fond of trifles, fond of toys,
25 And married to that woman, Noise;
26 Sacred Wisdom be my care,
27 And fairest Virtue, Wisdom's heir.
28 His speculations thus the sage begun,
29 When, lo! the neighbouring bell
30 In solemn sound struck one: —
31 He starts — and recollects — he was engag'd to Nell.
32 Then up he sprang nimble and light,
33 And rapp'd at fair Ele'nor's door;
34 He laid aside virtue that night,
35 And next morn por'd in Plato for more.
Source edition
Smart, Christopher, 1722-1771. Poems on several occasions: By Christopher Smart, A. M. Fellow of Pembroke-Hall, Cambridge. London: printed for the author, by W. Strahan; and sold by J. Newbery, at the Bible and Sun, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, MDCCLII., 1752, pp. 12-14. [16],230p.,plates; 4⁰. (ESTC T42626; OTA K041581.000) (Page images digitized from microfilm of a copy in the Bodleian Library [2799 d 134].)
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 Christopher Smart
- Against ILL-NATURE. (); ODE AGAINST ILL-NATURE. ()
- APOLLO and DAPHNE. An EPIGRAM. ()
- The BAG-WIG and the TOBACCO-PIPE. A FABLE. ()
- CARE and GENEROSITY. A FABLE. ()
- The DECISION. BALLAD III. ()
- The DISTRESSED DAMSEL. BALLAD VII. ()
- EPITHALAMIUM. ODE XI. ()
- The FAIR RECLUSE. BALLAD VIII. ()
- The FORCE of INNOCENCE. To Miss C—. BALLAD VI. ()
- THE HOP-GARDEN. A GEORGIC. In Two BOOKS. ()
- IDLENESS. ODE VII. ()
- THE JUDGMENT OF MIDAS. A MASQUE. ()
- The LASS with the golden Locks. BALLAD II. ()
- A MORNING PIECE, OR, AN HYMN for the HAY-MAKERS. ODE I. ()
- A NOON-PIECE; OR, The MOWERS at Dinner. ODE II. ()
- AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE and EPILOGUE TO OTHELLO, ()
- ODE ON ST. CECILIA's DAY. ()
- ODE IX. The Author apologizes to a Lady, for his being a little man. ()
- On an EAGLE confined in a College-Court. ODE XIII. ()
- On GOOD-NATURE. ()
- On Miss * * * *. ODE X. ()
- ON THE ETERNITY OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
- On the Fifth of December, being the Birth-day of a beautiful young Lady. ODE V. ()
- ON THE GOODNESS OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
- ON THE IMMENSITY OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
- ON THE OMNISCIENCE OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
- ON THE POWER OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
- On the sudden Death of a CLERGYMAN. ODE IV. ()
- The PHYSICIAN and the MONKEY. An EPIGRAM. ()
- The PRETTY CHAMBERMAID: In Imitation of Ne sit Ancillae tibi amor pudori, &c. of Horace. ODE VI. ()
- The SILENT FAIR. BALLAD V. ()
- [A SONG to DAVID.] ()
- SWEET WILLIAM. BALLAD I. ()
- The TALKATIVE FAIR. BALLAD IV. ()
- To ETHELINDA, On her doing my Verses the honour of wearing them in her bosom. Written at Thirteen. ()
- To Miss — one of the Chichester Graces. BALLAD IX. ()
- To the reverend and learned Dr. WEBSTER, Occasioned by his Dialogues on ANGER and FORGIVENESS. ODE VIII. ()