SLENDER's GHOST. William Shenstone Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T131163 K104099.005 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. 56-57. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

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SLENDER's GHOST . — Curae leves loquuntur , ingentes stupent . Seneca, Phaedra 607. BENEATH a church-yard yew Decay'd and worn with age , At dusk of eve , methought I spy'd Poor Slender's ghost , that whimpering cry'd , O sweet , O sweet Anne Page ! Ye gentle bards , give ear ! Who talk of amorous rage , Who spoil the lily , rob the rose ; Come learn of me to weep your woes : O sweet ! O sweet Anne Page ! Why should such labour'd strains Your formal Muse engage ? I never dreamt of flame or dart , That fir'd my breast , or pierc'd my heart , But sigh'd , O sweet Anne Page ! And you , whose love-sick minds No medicine can assuage ! Accuse the leech's art no more , But learn of Slender to deplore ; O sweet ! O sweet Anne Page ! And you , whose souls are held , Like linnets , in a cage ! Who talk of fetters , links , and chains , Attend , and imitate my strains : O sweet ! O sweet Anne Page ! And you , who boast or grieve , What horrid wars ye wage ! Of wounds receiv'd from many an eye , Yet mean as I do when I sigh O sweet ! O sweet Anne Page ! Hence every fond conceit Of shepherd , or of sage ! 'Tis Slender's voice , 'tis Slender's way , Expresses all you have to say — O sweet ! O sweet Anne Page !