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PASTORAL.
1 AS a shepherdess stray'd with her sheep,
2 I listen'd, and this was her song:
3 Not from Phillis her swain would I keep,
4 I would rather thus wander alone.
5 To my friend let me try to return
6 The swain — whom her fondness invites.
7 Her crook with each flower I'll adorn,
8 And teach her the song which he likes.
9 Yet l'm pleas'd with the tale I despise;
10 As he whispers my looks are so fair.
11 When the water reflects back my eyes
12 I find I'm not equal to her.
13 By the brook! where the primroses grow,
14 O could but those days now return!
15 The sweetest she plac'd on my brow;
16 Can I bear that my Phillis should mourn?
17 How harmless my flock as they feed!
18 'Tis time I were wearing them home;
19 I long with my Phillis to meet,
20 Since Corydon left her alone.
21 Though the plains and the nights are yet cold,
22 We shall rise with the sun in the morn;
23 When Corydon's flocks are unfold,
24 No more shall his nymph be forlorn.
25 How they bleat! 'tis her lambkins I hear;
26 As one of them stray'd from the rest,
27 Unheeded she drops the soft tear,
28 Unknowing her sorrow express'd.
29 Are the hills and the valleys less green?
30 The shrub, or the sweet-briar not sweet?
31 Because they are none of them mine,
32 Ah! why should a shepherdess weep?
Source edition
Carstairs, Christian. Original Poems. By a Lady, Dedicated to Miss Ann Henderson. A Tribute to Gratitude and Friendships. Edinburgh: Andrew Shortrede, 1786, pp. 5-6. (ESTC T76883) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 680].)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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 ‘Christian Carstairs’
- Addressed to a BEECH TREE, on observing that some of its Leaves were tinged by the Smoke of a Fire that had been kindled under it. ()
- A BALLAD. ()
- BASKET of FLOWERS. SONG. ()
- A DREAM. ()
- Earl of ELGIN's death. ()
- EPITAPH. ()
- EPITAPH. ()
- EPITAPH. For Alexander Wedderburn, Esq; St Germains. ()
- EVENING. ()
- FALSEHOOD — TRUTH ()
- Impudence caressed — Merit neglected. ()
- [In a triumphal car] ()
- [IN shades! to pass the summer day] ()
- A Lady in the Character of a Nymph. To the Corsican Warrior at Shakespeare's Jubilee. ()
- A NEW YEAR's GIFT. ()
- On seeing Lady H— after the Death of a favourite Daughter. ()
- On the arrival of the Ship from Messina in the Island of Sicily, with the Corple of the late Earl of Morton. ()
- On the Death of André. ()
- [OUR Scottish dames for virtue still be fam'd;] ()
- [QUEEN MARY.] ()
- [Scarce a breeze on the lake, with four oars to our boat;] ()
- A SONG, to the Tune of “Here awa, there awa.” ()
- SONG. ()
- The three following beautiful Stanzas by Miss A. H. to the Author. ()
- To a Brother of the Author's. ()
- To a young Lady who was going to India. ()
- To Lady H—n. ()
- To Miss A. H—. ()
- To Miss M— B. ()
- To — Esq; Member of the Capillaire Club. ()
- To —. ()
- Wrote as if repeated extempore by a Gentleman, occasioned by a Miniature Picture of a Lady being put up as a But to shoot at in Germany the time of the last war. ()
- Wrote some Months after the Accounts of my Brother's Death, who was killed in Action, July 1st 1763, near to Patna in Bengal. ()
- Wrote the week before my Father was to be informed of my Brother's death. ()