[Page 228]

To Miss ****.

By Miss ELISA CARTER.
I.
1 THE midnight moon serenely smiles
2 O'er nature's soft repose,
3 No lowring cloud obscures the skies,
4 Nor ruffling tempest blows.
II.
5 Now every passion sinks to rest,
6 The throbbing heart lies still,
7 And varying schemes of life no more
8 Distract the labouring will.
III.
9 In silence hush'd, to reason's voice
10 Attends each mental power;
11 Come dear Amanda, and enjoy
12 Reflection's favourite hour.
IV.
13 Come, while this peaceful scene invites,
14 Let's search this ample round;
15 Where shall the lovely fleeting form
16 Of Happiness be found?
V.
17 Does it amidst the frolic mirth
18 Of gay assemblies dwell?
19 Or hide beneath the solemn gloom
20 That shades the hermit's cell?
[Page 229]
VI.
21 How oft the laughing brow of joy
22 A sick'ning heart conceals,
23 And thro' the cloister's deep recess
24 Invading sorrow steals.
VII.
25 In vain thro' beauty, fortune, wit,
26 The fugitive we trace!
27 It dwells not in the faithless smile
28 That brightens Clodio's face.
VIII.
29 Howe'er our varying notions rove,
30 All yet agree, in one,
31 To place its being in some state,
32 At distance from our own.
IX.
33 O blind to each indulgent gift
34 Of power, supremely wise,
35 Who fancy happiness in aught
36 That Providence denies.
X.
37 Vain is alike the joy we seek,
38 And vain what we possess,
39 Unless harmonious reason tunes
40 The passions into peace.
XI.
41 To temp'rate bounds, to few desires,
42 Is happiness confin'd,
43 And deaf to folly's noise attends
44 The music of the mind.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): To Miss ****.
Author: Elizabeth Carter
Themes: joyfulness; happiness
Genres: ballad metre; Chevy Chase stanza; meditation
References: DMI 27001

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. VI. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 228-229. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.006) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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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.