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[Page 111]WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN, AND NEVER MEANT BY MR. B. FOR THE PUBLIC EYE*
[Page 113]
LUCY, OR THE BANKS OF AVON.
WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN, AND NEVER MEANT BY MR. B. FOR THE PUBLIC EYE** These lines are printed from the first foul copy, preserved by his Mother without Mr. B.'s knowledge. Mr. B. perpetually burned numbers of beautiful productions of his early youth. Mr. B. came one morning into his Mother's dressing-room, saying, “He had just met with a little poem that he thought she would like to hear, if at leisure.”He took his seat, and read as far as to the five last lines; then ceased, and asked how she liked it. Mrs. B. replied, “Like it; my dear child! why the man was a great villain, and the poor girl a great fool. Who wrote it?”Mr. B. replied, “It is not quite finished.”He then read the five last lines, when Mrs. B. not guessing her son to be the writer, exclaimed, “The moral is delightful, and makes it all beautiful; tell me, if you know, who wrote it.”He replied, “An Eton boy;”adding, in his sweetly musical voice, “I am happy that you like it, my dear Madam; it is, in verse, what you have been inculcating on me from my childhood in prose.”— Mr. B. at a very early age wrote a wonderfully beautiful panegyric on the late Earl of Chatham. Nothing could ever prevail on Mr. B. to flatter any one; but he ever spoke, and wrote, obliging truths most elegantly..
1 WHERE gentle Avon winds its silver stream,
2 A moss-grown cottage rears its humble head;
3 There Lucy first the vernal air inhal'd,
4 And spent beneath its roof her infant years.
[Page 112]5 Like Avon's stream those years flow'd gently on,
6 Nor heav'd a murm'ring sigh for pomp or wrath;
7 Her Parents' toil to ease was all her care.
8 Their cott, with three small fields, was all their store;
9 This little all, by labour, not by fraud
10 Obtain'd, by bounteous Heav'n was kindly blest,
11 And ever did their frugal wants supply.
12 To Nature, not to Art, her charms she ow'd;
13 By all the hamlet were those charms confess'd,
14 Still had she liv'd, and still had happy been,
15 Had honour been young Edward's constant guide:
16 But Edward, tutor'd long in Fashion's school,
17 Lord of each pleasing art, each winning grace,
18 To visit Shakspeare's hallow'd Mulberry came,
19 By Lucy guided to the classic shade.
20 Beneath its ancient boughs he woo'd the Nymph,
21 And twice two moons on Avon's banks he spent,
22 Ere the sad Maid, by hapless love betray'd,
23 Yielded her virgin honour to his arms.
24 Ye Vestals stern, who oft a virtue boast
25 That springs unbidden in your frigid breasts,
26 Scorning weak Love, be still severely chaste!
27 Yet, spare; oh! spare poor Lucy's injur'd shade:
28 For once resemble HEAVEN, and pardon Her,
29 If ever You for HEAVEN's pardon hope;
30 For crimes You have, though not from Love they spring,
31 And had young Edward sought your cold embrace,
32 Then you like Lucy might have lov'd and fall'n.
33 Sad Lucy once possess'd, her arms he left
34 To pluck fresh roses in a distant clime;
35 And twice two years on transatlantic shores,
36 Edward, false Edward, spent, ere he return'd
37 To visit injur'd Lucy's native land.
38 She, like the plaintive bird, her love bewail'd,
39 And, ever sighing, stray'd on Avon's banks;
40 Like Avon's stream her tears flow'd ceaseless down,
41 For three long years her fate she sorely mourn'd;
[Page 114]42 The fourth, no longer able to endure
43 The pangs of hope delay'd, and blasted fame,
44 In Avon's stream the ruin'd Lucy plung'd;
45 Avonian nymphs the love-lorn fair receiv'd,
46 And deeply mourn'd a sister's hapless fate.
47 And now vile Edward came; to Avon's banks
48 His guilty steps he bent, and sought his Fair,
49 Who now on Avon's banks had ceas'd to stray;
50 But ere poor Lucy's well-known cott he reach'd,
51 He met the Sexton grim, who, jeering, said,
52 "Go to thy Lucy 'neath yon yew-tree's shade!
53 In bridal honours deck'd she waits thee there."
54 Guided by the pale Moon trembling he went,
55 But, ah! no Lucy there sad Edward found:
56 Nought but the stone that told her tale of woe.
57 Full long entranc'd in grief he speechless stood,
58 Then sheath'd his glitt'ring poignard in his breast,
59 And sunk expiring on his Lucy's grave.
[Page 115]60 From this said tale one moral may we learn,
61 That Virtue's paths alone are paths of peace,
62 And that the man who these pure paths shall quit
63 For Pleasure's gilded halls and roseate bow'rs
64 Through life's long course will ne'er true bliss attain.
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Title (in Source Edition): LUCY, OR THE BANKS OF AVON. WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN, AND NEVER MEANT BY MR. B. FOR THE PUBLIC EYE.
Author: George Monck Berkeley
Themes:
Genres:
blank verse
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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. 111-115. 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.” ()
- 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. ()
- 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. ()