[Page 291]
A Nocturnal Reverie.
1 IN such a Night, when every louder Wind
2 Is to its distant Cavern safe confin'd;
3 And only gentle Zephyr fans his Wings,
4 And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings;
5 Or from some Tree, fam'd for the Owl's delight,
6 She, hollowing clear, directs the Wand'rer right:
7 In such a Night, when passing Clouds give place,
8 Or thinly vail the Heav'ns mysterious Face;
9 When in some River, overhung with Green,
10 The waving Moon and trembling Leaves are seen;
11 When freshen'd Grass now bears it self upright,
12 And makes cool Banks to pleasing Rest invite,
13 Whence springs the Woodbind, and the Bramble-Rose,
14 And where the sleepy Cowslip shelter'd grows;
15 Whilst now a paler Hue the Foxglove takes,
16 Yet checquers still with Red the dusky brakes:
17 When scatter'd Glow-worms, but in Twilight fine,
18 Shew trivial Beauties watch their Hour to shine;
[Page 292]19 Whilst Salisb'ry stands the Test of every Light,
20 In perfect Charms, and perfect Virtue bright:
21 When Odours, which declin'd repelling Day,
22 Thro' temp'rate Air uninterrupted stray;
23 When darken'd Groves their softest Shadows wear,
24 And falling Waters we distinctly hear;
25 When thro' the Gloom more venerable shows
26 Some ancient Fabrick, awful in Repose,
27 While Sunburnt Hills their swarthy Looks conceal,
28 And swelling Haycocks thicken up the Vale:
29 When the loos'd Horse now, as his Pasture leads,
30 Comes slowly grazing thro' th' adjoining Meads,
31 Whose stealing Pace, and lengthen'd Shade we fear
32 Till torn up Forage in his Teeth we hear:
33 When nibbling Sheep at large pursue their Food,
34 And unmolested Kine rechew the Cud;
35 When Curlews cry beneath the Village-walls,
36 And to her straggling Brood the Partridge calls
37 Their shortliv'd Jubilee the Creatures keep,
38 Which but endures, whilst Tyrant-Man do's sleep
[Page 293]39 When a sedate Content the Spirit feels,
40 And no fierce Light disturbs, whilst it reveals;
41 But silent Musings urge the Mind to seek
42 Something, too high for Syllables to speak;
43 Till the free Soul to a compos'dness charm'd,
44 Finding the Elements of Rage disarm'd,
45 O'er all below a solemn Quiet grown,
46 Joys in th'inferiour World, and thinks it like her Own
47 In such a Night let Me abroad remain,
48 Till Morning breaks, and All's confus'd again;
49 Our Cares, our Toils, our Clamours are renew'd.
50 Or Pleasures, seldom reach'd, again pursu'd.
About this text
Themes:
night
Genres:
heroic couplet; meditation
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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. 291-293. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)
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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 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. ()
- 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. ()
- 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. ()