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[Page 27]TO HENRY M'KENZIE*
ELEGIAC BALLAD.
TO HENRY M'KENZIE** Author of “The Man of Feeling,” &c. ESQ.
1 DIMM'D were the beamy stars of night,
2 The moon had veil'd her temp'rate light;
3 The gale was rude, the gale was high,
4 And cheerless shew'd the low'ring sky;
5 All hous'd within an aged yew,
6 Whose boughs were dank with midnight dew,
7 Night's lonely bird, with sadd'ning strain,
8 Awoke the echo of the plain;
9 Whilst still the sweet responsive maid,
10 From forth her dark, unnotic'd shade,
11 Repeated slow the doleful tale,
12 And faintly gave it to the gale.
[Page 28]13 'T was then the church-yard's hollow sod
14 With frantic step poor Nancy trod;
15 She sought the spot where Henry slept,
16 And o'er his grave in anguish wept.
17 Fond Friendship's hand had planted there
18 Such flowrets wild as woodlands bear;
19 The cowslip sweet, the vi'let blue,
20 There drank soft Pity's falling dew;
21 The panzy pale, the wild rose red,
22 Were cluster'd round her Henry's head;
23 And, waving o'er the thron-bound grave,
24 The woodbine there its fragrance gave.
25 Beside the spot a willow grew,
26 Of love, like her's, the emblem true;
27 From that one votive branch she broke,
28 And thus the lovely mourner spoke:
29 "Who can the friendly charm impart
30 To heal poor Nancy's broken heart?
[Page 29]31 On this green grave she rests her head,
32 To weep her friend, her true-love dead.
33 Then from the tomb, dear youth, return,
34 Nor longer let thy Nancy mourn;
35 In pity quit the cheerless grave,
36 And from despair thy Nancy save.
37 He comes, he comes; I see him now
38 On yonder mountain's spiry brow;
39 At Nancy's call I knew he'd come,
40 To soothe her grief, and lead her home.
41 Ah, me! he's gone; he shuns these arms.
42 Can Henry scorn his Nancy's charms?
43 Ah, no! ah, no! my Henry's dead.
44 Then be this grave my bridal bed."
45 All o'er the grave her form she threw,
46 Her tresses sleeping in the dew;
47 On Heav'n she fix'd her azure eyes,
48 She sigh'd, she sunk, no more to rise.
[Page 30]49 Ye favour'd few, who know to love,
50 Who Sorrow's sacred pleasures prove;
51 To where these lovers sleep repair,
52 And Pity's self shall meet you there.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): ELEGIAC BALLAD. TO HENRY M'KENZIE ESQ.
Author: George Monck Berkeley
Themes:
Genres:
elegy; ballad metre; address
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Source edition
Berkeley, George Monck, 1763-1793. Poems: by the late George-Monck Berkeley, Esq. ... With a preface by the editor, consisting of some anecdotes of Mr. Monck Berkeley and several of his friends. London: printed by J. Nichols; and sold by Messrs. Leigh and Sotheby; Mr. Edwards; Mr. Cooke, Oxford; Mr. Todd, York; Messrs. Simmons and Co.; Messrs. Flackton, Marrable, and Claris; and Mr. Bristow, Canterbury, 1797, pp. 27-30. viii,DCXXXII,212p.,plate: port.; 4⁰. (ESTC T142950; OTA K111746.000)
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 ECCO-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 3.0.
Other works by George Monck Berkeley
- ADDRESS TO THE SHADE OF SHAKSPEARE. ON MRS. B—'S VISITING HIS TOMB IN COMPANY WITH THE WRITER OF THESE LINES, AUGUST 13, 1787. ()
- ADDRESS TO THE WINDS. SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY A LADY DURING THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER. ()
- THE AUTHOR. TO ARTHUR MURPHY, ESQ. ()
- THE BANKS OF ALMOND. (VIDE PENNANT'S TOUR.) ()
- THE BIRTH OF BLISS. TO THE HONOURABLE GEORGE LESLIE, SON OF THE EARL OF LEVEN, &c. ()
- AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH of MISS M—s. ()
- ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF LADY JANE GRAY AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. TO JUDITH LADY LAURIE. ()
- ELEGY. TO ALMERIA. ()
- EPITAPH ON AN UNFORTUNATE LADY. TO THE REV. GEORGE GLEIG, A.M. ()
- EPITAPH ON G. R. BERKELEY, ESQ. TO MRS. GEORGE BERKELEY, HIS MOTHER. ()
- EVENING, A PASTORAL. TO HENRY GRIMSTON, ESQ. OF YORKSHIRE. ()
- THE FAIRIES. TO MISS GRIMSTON, YOUNGEST SISTER OF THOMAS GRIMSTON, ESQ. OF GRIMSTON, YORKSHIRE. ()
- FAREWELL STANZAS ON LEAVING COOKHAM, IN THE SPRING OF THE YEAR, 1781, WHEN MR. B. WAS NOT QUITE EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD, TWO YEARS AFTER HE LEFT ETON-SCHOOL. ()
- THE IMMORTALITY OF VIRTUE. TO MRS. FRINSHAM. ()
- IMPROMPTU, ON HEARING, AS HE WAS RISING IN THE MORNING, OF THE DEATH OF THE REV. JOHN DUNCOMBE, M.A. INSCRIBED TO MRS. DUNCOMBE, OF CANTERBURY. ()
- INSCRIPTION FOR A GOTHIC NICHE LINED WITH IVY, IN THE GARDEN OF DR. BERKELEY'S PREBENDAL HOUSE IN THE OAKS AT CANTERBURY, WHERE MR. BERKELEY USED TO SIT AND READ GREEK. THE LADIES OF THE FAMILY NAMED IT “THE GREEK SEAT.” ()
- INSCRIPTION FOR THE FRONT OF SINGLETON ABBEY. TO MISS MALTHUS'S, THE BELOVED, THE RESPECTED FRIENDS OF HIS EARLY YOUTH. ()
- INVOCATION TO CUPID. TO FREDERICK REYNOLDS, ESQ. ()
- INVOCATION TO OBLIVION. TO ROBERT MERRY, ESQ. ()
- LUCY, OR THE BANKS OF AVON. WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN, AND NEVER MEANT BY MR. B. FOR THE PUBLIC EYE. ()
- THE MAIDS OF MORVEN, AN ELEGIAC ODE. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MARY VISCOUNTESS RUTHVEN, DAUGHTER OF THE EXCELLENT EARL AND COUNTESS OF LEVEN AND MELVIL. ()
- ODE TO CONSCIENCE. TO MRS. YEARSLEY. ()
- ODE TO GENIUS. TO THE REV. WILLIAM MASON, A.M. PRECENTOR OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF YORK. ()
- ODE TO LOVE. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY DUDLEY AND WARD. ()
- ODE TO TRAGEDY. TO MRS. SIDDONS. ()
- THE POWER OF LOVE. TO ROBERT BERKELEY, ESQ. JUNIOR, OF SPETCHLEY PARK, WORCESTERSHIRE. ()
- PROLOGUE TO BONDS WITHOUT JUDGEMENT, OR THE LOVES OF BENGAL. ()
- PROLOGUE, SPOKEN BY THE AUTHOR, ON OPENING THE NEW THEATRE AT BLENHEIM, OCTOBER 1787. TO THEIR GRACES THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. ()
- THE RAPE OF THE WIG. WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1782. ()
- RUMORA; OR, THE MAID OF RAASA. ()
- SONG. SUNG BY A CHORUS OF PEASANTS. ()
- SONG. TO ALMERIA. ()
- STANZAS ON PAINTING. TO THE REVEREND WILLIAM PETERS, LL.B. ()
- STANZAS WRITTEN AT THE TOMB OF SHAKSPEARE. ()
- TO A NIGHTINGALE IN CLIFDEN WOOD. TO MRS. D. MONCK, OF COOKHAM. ()
- TO MIRANDA, ON HER DETERMINING TO ASSUME THE VEIL. ()
- TO MIRANDA, ON THE DEATH OF HER BROTHER-IN-LAW THE EARL OF L—. ()
- TO MIRANDA. ()
- TO MISS — OF DUBLIN, ON THE DEATH OF HER MOTHER. ()
- VERSES ON MRS. BILLINGTON'S APPEARANCE AT OXFORD. TO THOMAS BARRETT LENNARD, ESQ. ()
- VERSES ON SEEING THE TRAGEDY OF THE REGENT. TO BERTIE GREATHEAD, ESQ. ()
- VERSES ON THE DUTCHESS OF RUTLAND'S PREFERRING MR. PETERS. TO GEORGE ATKINSON, M.D. ()
- THE VIRGIN'S MIDNIGHT HYMN, SUPPOSED TO BE SUNG BY A CHORUS OF NUNS AT BRUSSELS, IN THE YEAR 1786, WHEN THE AUTHOR WAS THERE. INSCRIBED TO THE HON. MISS MOLESWORTHS, DAUGHTERS OF LORD MOLESWORTH, AND TO MISS HORNES, DAUGHTERS OF THE BISHOP OF NORWICH. ()