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[Page 206]
The FAIR RECLUSE.
BALLAD VIII.
I.
1 YE ancient patriarchs of the wood,
2 That veil around these awful glooms,
3 Who many a century have stood
4 In verdant age, that ever blooms.
II.
5 Ye Gothic tow'rs, by vapours dense,
6 Obscur'd into severer state,
7 In pastoral magnificence
8 At once so simple and so great.
III.
[Page 207]9 Why all your jealous shades on me,
10 Ye hoary elders do ye spread?
11 Fair Innocence shou'd still be free,
12 Nought shou'd be chain'd, but what we dread.
IV.
13 Say, must these tears for ever flow?
14 Can I from patience learn content,
15 While solitude still nurses woe,
16 And leaves me leisure to lament.
V.
17 My guardian see! — who wards off peace,
18 Whose cruelty is his employ,
19 Who bids the tongue of transport cease,
20 And stops each avenue to joy?
VI.
21 Freedom of air alone is giv'n,
22 To aggravate, not sooth my grief,
23 To view th' immensely-distant heav'n,
24 My nearest prospect of relief.
About this text
Author: Christopher Smart
Themes:
grief; sadness
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. 206-207. [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 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 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. ()