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[Page 88]
The LASS of the HILL.
Humbly inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of MARLBOROUGH.
I.
1 On the brow of a Hill a young Shepherdess dwelt,
2 Who no pangs of ambition or love had e'er felt:
3 For a few sober maxims still ran in her head,
4 That'twas better to earn, ere she eat her brown bread:
5 That to rise with the lark was conducive to health,
6 And, to folks in a cottage, contentment was wealth.
II.
[Page 89]7 Now young Roger, who liv'd in the valley below,
8 Who at Church and at Market was reckon'd a Beau;
9 Had many times try'd o'er her heart to prevail,
10 And would rest on his pitch-fork to tell her his tale:
11 With his winning behaviour he melted her heart;
12 But, quite artless herself, she suspected no art.
III.
13 He had sigh'd and protested, had kneel'd and implor'd,
14 And could lye with the grandeur and air of a Lord:
15 Then her eyes he commended in language well drest,
16 And enlarg'd on the torments that troubled his breast;
17 'Till his sighs and his tears had so wrought on her mind '
18 That in downright compassion to love she inclin'd.
IV.
19 But as soon as he'd melted the ice of her breast,
20 All the flames of his Love in a moment decreast;
21 And at noon he goes flaunting all over the vale,
22 Where he boasts of his conquest to Susan and Nell:
23 Tho' he sees her but seldom, he's always in haste,
24 And if ever he mentions her, makes her his jest.
V.
[Page 90]25 All the day she goes sighing, and hanging her head,
26 And her thoughts are so pester'd, she scarce earns her bread;
27 The whole village cry shame when a milking she goes,
28 That so little affection is shew'd to the cows:
29 But she heeds not their railing, e'en let 'em rail on,
30 And a fig for the cows, now her sweet-heart is gone.
VI.
31 Now beware, ye young Virgins of Britain's gay isle,
32 How ye yield up your hearts to a look and a smile:
33 For Cupid is artful, and Virgins are frail,
34 And you'll find a false Roger in every vale,
35 Who to court you, and tempt you will try all his skill;
36 But remember the Lass on the brow of the Hill.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): The LASS of the HILL. Humbly inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of MARLBOROUGH.
Author: Mary Jones
Themes:
relations between the sexes; love; rural life
Genres:
song; pastoral
References:
DMI 23690
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. 88-90. 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. ()
- 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 SPIDER. ()
- 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. ()