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[Page 71]
The SPIDER.
1 The sun had left the western road,
2 And drove his steeds to rest;
3 When Charlot on her bed was laid,
4 With downy sleep opprest.
5 Full o'er her head a Spider dwelt,
6 Secure from brush or broom,
7 By heedless Sarah undescry'd,
8 Whene'er she swept the room.
9 This Spider's citadel was large,
10 And cunningly contriv'd,
11 T' ensnare the heedless wand'ring fly,
12 Upon whose spoils he thriv'd.
13 Now bent on prey, one luckless night,
14 This bloody-minded wretch,
15 Peep'd from his battlements above,
16 Nor dream'd — Harm watch, harm catch.
[Page 72]17 He Charlot spy'd full fast asleep,
18 Her milk-white bosom bare,
19 A fresh'ning bloom o'er-spread her cheek,
20 And loosely fell her hair.
21 Charm'd with the fight, his bowels yearn,
22 From whence he spins a thread,
23 On which he glides as swift as thought
24 Down to the sleeping maid.
25 So grandsire Jove, transported much
26 By some fair mortal's charms,
27 Descended on a sun-beam down,
28 And sunk into her arms.
29 And now he travels o'er her breast
30 With wonder and delight;
31 And on her tucker, in a fold,
32 Repos'd his limbs all night.
33 Snug was the word, and up he rolls
34 His carcase full of ill;
35 So round and black, she might have took
36 His Worship for a pill.
[Page 73]37 But now the nymph begins to wake,
38 And lift her radiant eyes;
39 Nor can I here in language paint
40 How great was her surprize.
41 But this I will affirm, had she
42 An armed Man espy'd there,
43 'Twou'd not have scar'd her half so much
44 As this vile lurking Spider.
45 In short, she shriek'd, and Sarah ran
46 Impatient to her aid;
47 But when she saw the hideous things,
48 She likewise was dismay'd.
49 At length, with equal courage arm'd,
50 They dash'd him on the floor;
51 Lye there, quoth Charlot, miscreant vile!
52 And welter in thy gore.
53 Yet, ere I take thy forfeit life,
54 This full conviction gain,
55 That fraud, and guile, and cobweb art,
56 May flourish long in vain.
[Page 74]57 The sage advice the Spider heard,
58 As on the floor he lay;
59 But just as Sarah reach'd the tongs,
60 He wisely — march'd away.
About this text
Author: Mary Jones
Themes:
manners; animals
Genres:
ballad metre
References:
DMI 23685
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Jones, Mary, d. 1778. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. By Mary Jones. Oxford: Printed; and delivered by Mr. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, Mr. Clements in Oxford, and Mr. Frederick in Bath, MDCCL., 1750, pp. 71-74. vi,[1],xlv,[1],405p. (ESTC T115196) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 1723].)
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 Mary Jones
- After the Small Pox. ()
- ANOTHER. ()
- ANSWER to a LETTER From the Hon. Miss LOVELACE. ()
- The Author's Silence excus'd. ()
- BIRTH-DAY To the same, on Richmond-Green, Soon after her being Maid of Honour to Queen CAROLINE. ()
- BIRTH-DAY. ()
- BIRTH-DAY. ()
- Consolatory Rhymes to Mrs. East, On the Death of her Canary Bird. ()
- ELEGY, On a favourite DOG, suppos'd to be poison'd. To Miss Molly Clayton. ()
- An EPISTLE to Lady BOWYER. ()
- EPISTLE, from Fern-Hill. To the same. ()
- EPITAPH On a Young NOBLEMAN, Kill'd in an ENGAGEMENT at SEA. ()
- EPITAPH On Brigadier General HILL. ()
- EXTEMPORE. ON A Drawing of the Countess of HERTFORD's, now Duchess of SOMERSET. ()
- The FALL. ()
- From New Lodge to Fern-Hill. In a very rainy Summer Season. ()
- [From the same Opera.] ()
- HEAVEN. To STELLA. ()
- The Heel-piece of her Shoe. (Stella requiring more rhymes, and the Author at a loss for a subject.) ()
- Her EPITAPH. (Which the Author hopes will live as long as she does.) ()
- HOLT WATERS. A Tale. Extracted from the Natural History of Berkshire. ()
- In Memory of the Right Hon. NEVIL Lord LOVELACE. ()
- In MEMORY of the Rt. Hon. Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, Who was slain at CARTHAGENA. ()
- The LASS of the HILL. Humbly inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of MARLBOROUGH. ()
- LIFE. (Occasion'd by some lines upon Death.) ()
- MATRIMONY. ()
- ODE To the Right Hon. Lady Henry Beauclerk. ()
- Of DESIRE. An Epistle to the Hon. Miss LOVELACE. ()
- On her Bed-Chamber's Chimney Being blown down at St. JAMES's. ()
- On her BIRTH-DAY, Being the 11th of December. ()
- On Her Birth-Day, December 11. ()
- On one of her Eyes. ()
- On the Reasonableness of Her coming to the Oxford Act. ()
- On the Right Honourable Lady Betty Bertie's Birth-Day. Inserted at the Request of Norris Bertie, Esq; ()
- PATIENCE. ()
- RHYMES to the Hon. Miss LOVELACE; now Lady HENRY BEAUCLERK. On her attending Miss CHARLOT CLAYTON In the SMALL-POX. ()
- Rhymes, to Miss Charlot Clayton. ()
- Soliloquy, on an empty Purse. ()
- [SONG from the Opera of ELPIDIA.] ()
- The STORY of Jacob and Rachel attempted. To the same. ()
- SUBLIME STRAINS. On the Author's walking to visit Stella, in a windy morning, at Privy Garden. ()
- To Miss CLAYTON. Occasion'd by her breaking an appointment to visit the AUTHOR. ()
- To Mrs. CLAYTON, With a HARE. ()
- To the Prince of ORANGE, On his MARRIAGE. Written at the time of the OXFORD Verses. ()
- To the Same. On her desiring the Author to write a Satire upon her. ()
- To the same. On her parting with the first copy of Heaven, and sending for another. ()
- To the same. Written at Fern-Hill, while dinner was waiting for her. ()
- VERSES TO THE Memory of Miss CLAYTON. ()
- Written at her Apartment in Windsor-Castle. ()
- WRITTEN AT THE Request of a young Divine, TO BE SENT To his MISTRESS, with the Beggar's Opera. ()
- Written in an IVORY BOOK For the Honourable Miss HAMILTON; To be sent to her MAMMA. ()
- Written on some Ivory Leaves. ()