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[Page 63]INSCRIPTION FOR THE FRONT OF SINGLETON ABBEY*
TO MISS MALTHUS'S†
INSCRIPTION FOR THE FRONT OF SINGLETON ABBEY** This name was chosen by Mr. B..
TO MISS MALTHUS'S†† Several very beautiful accomplished young ladies, and some with highly cultivated minds. The eldest of them very little turned of twenty-two years, used to declare that they would not wait to be derided by the gentlemen as old maids, if any GENTLEMAN can give such names. That they would prepare some fine old abbey, join their fortunes, and there reside, excluding all men whatever, before the time arrived that English, not Irish, gentlemen usually leave off their attentions to the ladies. In bare justice to Irishmen, of fashion, it must be said, their politeness is as perfect to the matron of sixty as to the nymph of sixteen: they are too correctly well-bred to talk nonsense to a dowager, or a matron. Mr. B. declared that it would be impracticable to exclude ALL gentlemen; that they must have a receiver of their rents, &c. and that he insisted on having that office. A very elegant amiable young gentleman, educating for the church, and of which he is now an ornament, being a most excellent parish minister, the Reverend H. R. Master of Arts, assured them that they must have a chaplain. These two favoured youths were therefore to be admitted. Mr. B. said, “If they would retire, it should not be into obscurity, for that he would write an inscription, and fix it up in large gold letters.”The idea occasioned much innocent mirth. Most of the sixteen are happily married. It is the fault of the remainder that they are still fit for SINGLETON Abbey., THE BELOVED, THE RESPECTED FRIENDS OF HIS EARLY YOUTH.
1 KNOW, Trav'ller, in this sweet, sequester'd cell,
2 No weeping maids, no slighted virgins dwell;
3 Within these walls are found a vestal train,
4 The loveliest maids that e'er adorn'd the plain;
[Page 64]5 Nor yet esteem this pile a specious tomb,
6 Where beauty pines in never-ending gloom;
7 No mattins here disturb the morning sleep,
8 No lovelorn maids forsake their couch to weep;
9 Along these walls no gloomy torches burn,
10 Nor sad disclose where rests some mould'ring urn;
11 Before no sculptur'd saints they prostrate weep,
12 Nor at their shrines the midnight vigil keep;
13 Here dwell the Graces three, the Sisters nine,
14 And them alone these maidens deem divine;
[Page 65]15 By fancy led, they sought these pleasing shades,
16 And are what vulgar mortals call Old Maids;
17 Yet many a native charm they still possess,
18 Unborrow'd from the gaudy art of dress;
19 Still on each cheek the bloom of youth appears,
20 And prudence is their only proof of years.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): INSCRIPTION FOR THE FRONT OF SINGLETON ABBEY. TO MISS MALTHUS'S, THE BELOVED, THE RESPECTED FRIENDS OF HIS EARLY YOUTH.
Author: George Monck Berkeley
Themes:
Genres:
occasional poem
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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. 63-65. viii,DCXXXII,212p.,plate: port.; 4⁰. (ESTC T142950; OTA K111746.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)
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 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. ()
- ELEGIAC BALLAD. TO HENRY M'KENZIE ESQ. ()
- 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.” ()
- 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. ()