[Page 198]
The LASS with the golden Locks.
BALLAD II.
I.
1 NO more of my Harriot, of Polly no more,
2 Nor all the bright beauties that charm'd me before;
3 My heart for a slave to gay Venus I've sold,
4 And barter'd my freedom for ringlets of gold:
5 I'll throw down my pipe, and neglect all my flocks,
6 And will sing to my lass with the golden locks.
II.
[Page 199]7 Tho' o'er her white forehead the gilt tresses flow,
8 Like the rays of the sun on a hillock of snow;
9 Such painters of old drew the Queen of the Fair,
10 'Tis the taste of the antients, 'tis classical hair:
11 And tho' witlings may scoff, and tho' raillery mocks,
12 Yet I'll sing to my lass with the golden locks.
III.
13 To live and to love, to converse and be free,
14 Is loving, my charmer, and living with thee:
15 Away go the hours in kisses and rhime,
16 Spite of all the grave lectures of old father Time;
17 A fig for his dials, his watches and clocks,
18 He's best spent with the lass of the golden locks.
IV.
19 Than the swan in the brook she's more dear to my sight,
20 Her mien is more stately, her breast is more white,
21 Her sweet lips are rubies, all rubies above,
22 Which are fit for the language or labour of love;
23 At the park in the mall, at the play in the box,
24 My lass bears the bell with her golden locks.
V.
25 Her beautiful eyes, as they roll or they flow,
26 Shall be glad for my joy, or shall weep for my woe;
27 She shall ease my fond heart, and shall sooth my soft pain,
28 While thousands of rivals are sighing in vain;
29 Let them rail at the fruit they can't reach, like the fox,
30 While I have the lass with the golden locks.
About this text
Author: Christopher Smart
Themes:
love
Genres:
ballad metre
Text view / Document view
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. 198-199. [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. ()
- A MORNING PIECE, OR, AN HYMN for the HAY-MAKERS. ODE I. ()
- A NIGHT-PIECE; OR, MODERN PHILOSOPHY. ODE III. ()
- 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. ()