[Page 171]
An EPISTLE from a Gentleman to Madam Deshouliers, returning Money she had lent him at Bassette, upon the first Day of their Acquaintance.
Translated with Liberty from the French.
1 URANIA, whom the Town admires,
2 Whose Wit and Beauty share our Praise,
3 This fair URANIA who inspires
4 A thousand Joys a thousand ways,
5 She, who cou'd with a Glance convey
6 Favours, that had my Hopes outdone,
7 Has lent me Money on that Day,
8 Which our Acquaintance first begun.
[Page 172]9 Nor with the Happiness I taste,
10 Let any jealous Doubts contend:
11 Her Friendship is secure to last,
12 Beginning where all others end.
13 And thou, known Cheat! upheld by Law,
14 Thou Disappointer of the craving Mind,
15 BASSETTE, who thy Original dost draw
16 From Venice (by uncertain Seas confin'd);
17 Author of Murmurs, and of Care,
18 Of pleasing Hopes, concluding in Despair:
19 To thee my strange Felicity I owe,
20 From thy Oppression did this Succour flow.
21 Less had I gain'd, had'st thou propitious been,
22 Who better by my Loss hast taught me how to Win.
23 Yet tell me, my transported Brain!
24 (whose Pride this Benefit awakes)
25 Know'st thou, what on this Chance depends?
26 And are we not exalted thus in vain,
[Page 173]27 Whilst we observe the Money which she lends,
28 But not, alas! the Heart she takes,
29 The fond Engagements, and the Ties
30 Her fatal Bounty does impose,
31 Who makes Reprisals, with her Eyes,
32 For what her gen'rous Hand bestows?
33 And tho' I quickly can return
34 Those useful Pieces, which she gave;
35 Can I again, or wou'd I have
36 That which her Charms have from me borne?
37 Yet let us quit th' obliging Score;
38 And whilst we borrow'd Gold restore,
39 Whilst readily we own the Debt,
40 And Gratitude before her set
41 In its approv'd and fairest Light;
42 Let her effectually be taught
43 By that instructive, harmless Slight,
44 That also in her turn she ought
45 (Repaying ev'ry tender Thought)
46 Kindness with Kindness to requite.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): An EPISTLE from a Gentleman to Madam Deshouliers, returning Money she had lent him at Bassette, upon the first Day of their Acquaintance. Translated with Liberty from the French.
Themes:
Genres:
epistle; translation
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of, 1661-1720. Miscellany poems, on several occasions: Written by the Right Honble Anne, Countess of Winchilsea. London: printed for J. B. and sold by Benj. Tooke, William Taylor, and James Round, 1713, pp. 171-173. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)
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 Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea
- ADAM Pos'd. ()
- ALCIDOR. ()
- All is Vanity. ()
- The ATHEIST and the ACORN. ()
- The Battle between the Rats and the Weazles. ()
- The Brass-Pot, and Stone-Jugg. A FABLE. ()
- The CAUTIOUS LOVERS. ()
- The CHANGE. ()
- The Critick and the Writer of FABLE ()
- Cupid and Folly. Imitated from the FRENCH. ()
- The Decision of Fortune. A FABLE. ()
- Democritus and his Neighbours. Imitated from Fontaine. ()
- A Description of One of the Pieces of Tapistry at Long-Leat, made after the famous Cartons of Raphael; in which, Elymas the Sorcerer is miraculously struck Blind by St. Paul before Sergius Paulus, the Proconsul of Asia. Inscribed to the Honble HENRY THYNNE, under the Name of THEANOR. ()
- The DOG and his MASTER. ()
- The Eagle, the Sow, and the Cat. ()
- Enquiry after Peace. A Fragment. ()
- An EPISTLE from Alexander to Hephaestion in his Sickness. ()
- The EQUIPAGE. Written Originally in FRENCH by L'Abbé Reigner. ()
- The EXECUTOR. ()
- Fanscomb Barn. In Imitation of MILTON. ()
- The following Lines occasion'd by the Marriage of Edward Herbert Esquire, and Mrs. Elizabeth Herbert. ()
- For the Better. Imitated from Sir Roger L'Estrange. ()
- Fragment at Tunbridge-Wells. ()
- FRAGMENT. ()
- Friendship between EPHELIA and ARDELIA. ()
- GLASS. ()
- The Hog, the Sheep, and Goat carrying to a FAIR. ()
- HOPE. ()
- The House of Socrates. ()
- The HYMN. ()
- JEALOUSY. A SONG. ()
- Jupiter and the Farmer. ()
- The King and the Shepherd. Imitated from the French. ()
- La Passion Vaincue. Done into English with Liberty. ()
- A LETTER to the same Person. ()
- LIFE's Progress. ()
- The LORD and the BRAMBLE ()
- Love, Death, and Reputation. ()
- The LYON and the GNAT. ()
- The MAN and his HORSE. ()
- The Man bitten by Fleas. ()
- Man's Injustice towards Providence. ()
- MERCURY and the ELEPHANT. A Prefatory FABLE. ()
- A Miller, his Son, and their Ass. A FABLE Translated from Monsieur de la Fontaine. ()
- Moral SONG. ()
- THE Mussulman's Dream OF THE VIZIER and DERVIS. ()
- A Nocturnal Reverie. ()
- On the Death of the Honourable Mr. James Thynne, younger Son to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth. ()
- The Owl Describing her Young Ones. ()
- Part of the Fifth Scene in the Second Act of Athalia, a Tragedy, written in French by Monsieur Racine. ()
- A Pastoral DIALOGUE between Two Shepherdesses. ()
- The Petition for an Absolute Retreat. Inscribed to the Right Honble CATHARINE Countess of THANET, mention'd in the Poem under the Name of ARMINDA. ()
- The Philosopher, the Young Man, and his Statue. ()
- The PHOENIX. A SONG. ()
- A Pindarick Poem Upon the Hurricane in November 1703, referring to this Text in Psalm 148. ver. 8. Winds and Storms fulfilling his Word. ()
- A POEM for the Birth-day of the Right Honble the Lady CATHARINE TUFTON. Occasion'd by sight of some Verses upon that Subject for the preceding Year, compos'd by no Eminent Hand. ()
- The Poor Man's Lamb: OR, Nathan's Parable to David after the Murder of Uriah, and his Marriage with Bathsheba. Turn'd into Verse and Paraphras'd. ()
- The Prevalence of Custom. ()
- PSALM the 137th, Paraphras'd to the 7th Verse. ()
- REFORMATION. ()
- The Shepherd and the Calm. ()
- The Shepherd Piping to the Fishes. ()
- A SONG. ()
- A SONG. ()
- A SONG. ()
- A SONG. ()
- The SPLEEN. A Pindarick Poem. ()
- A Tale of the Miser, and the Poet. Written about the Year 1709. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] AMINTOR, being ask'd by THIRSIS Who is the Object of his Love? speaks as follows. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] Daphne's Answer to Sylvia, declaring she should esteem all as Enemies, who should talk to her of LOVE. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] From the AMINTA of TASSO. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] From the AMINTA of TASSO. Part of the Description of the Golden Age. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] THIRSIS persuades AMINTOR not to despair upon the Predictions of Mopsus discov'ring him to be an Impostor. ()
- There's No To-Morrow, A FABLE imitated from Sir Roger L'Estrange. ()
- To a Friend, in Praise of the Invention of Writing Letters. ()
- To DEATH. ()
- To Edward Jenkinson, Esq a very young Gentleman, who writ a Poem on PEACE. ()
- To Mr. F. now Earl of W. Who going abroad, had desired ARDELIA to write some Verses upon whatever Subject she thought fit, against his Return in the Evening. ()
- To the NIGHTINGALE. ()
- To the Painter of an ill-drawn Picture of CLEONE, the Honorable Mrs. Thynne. ()
- The Tradesman and the Scholar. ()
- The TREE. ()
- VERSES Written under the King of Sweden's Picture. ()
- The Wit and the Beau. ()
- The Young RAT and his DAM, the COCK and the CAT. ()