INSCRIPTION FOR THE FRONT OF SINGLETON ABBEY. TO MISS MALTHUS'S, THE BELOVED, THE RESPECTED FRIENDS OF HIS EARLY YOUTH. George Monck Berkeley Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T142950 K111746.000 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.

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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 . KNOW , Trav'ller , in this sweet , sequester'd cell , No weeping maids , no slighted virgins dwell ; Within these walls are found a vestal train , The loveliest maids that e'er adorn'd the plain ; Nor yet esteem this pile a specious tomb , Where beauty pines in never-ending gloom ; No mattins here disturb the morning sleep , No lovelorn maids forsake their couch to weep ; Along these walls no gloomy torches burn , Nor sad disclose where rests some mould'ring urn ; Before no sculptur'd saints they prostrate weep , Nor at their shrines the midnight vigil keep ; Here dwell the Graces three , the Sisters nine , And them alone these maidens deem divine ; By fancy led , they sought these pleasing shades , And are what vulgar mortals call Old Maids ; Yet many a native charm they still possess , Unborrow'd from the gaudy art of dress ; Still on each cheek the bloom of youth appears , And prudence is their only proof of years .