[Page [82]]

To Hope.

1 DELUSIVE companion of youth,
2 Who, careless of present and past,
3 In prospect, unmindful of truth,
4 Canst flatter the wretch to the last!
5 Benignant deceiver, whose sway
6 Alone can life's pilgrimage glad,
7 Whose presence makes Misery gay,
8 And whose absence Prosperity sad!
9 Say, where dost thou love to reside,
10 Humanity's woes to assuage?
11 Youth's sanguine pursuits dost thou guide,
12 Or soften the rigour of Age?
13 Or dost thou with Piety join,
14 The pillow of Sickness to smooth,
15 On the breasts of the dying recline,
16 And their fears by thy promises sooth?
[Page 83]
17 Dost thou tell them how vain each desire,
18 Which saddens die children of clay?
19 And the cheering reflection inspire,
20 That Death to true life leads the way?
21 If such thou wilt visit my breast,
22 Come, friendly enchantress, ah come —
23 This heart of each weakness divest,
24 And fix its pursuits past the tomb!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): To Hope.
Author: Catherine Rebecca Grey, Lady Manners
Themes:
Genres: address

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Source edition

Manners, Catherine Rebecca, Lady, 1766 or 1767-1852. Poems by Lady Manners. Second edition. London: John Bell, 1793, pp. [82]-83. 126p. (ESTC T173070) (Page images digitized from a copy of the first edition in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 i.230].)

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