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[Page 100]
Soliloquy, on an empty Purse.
1 Alas! my Purse! how lean and low!
2 My silken Purse! what art thou now!
3 Once I beheld — but stocks will fall —
4 When both thy Ends had wherewithal.
[Page 101]5 When I within thy slender fence
6 My fortune plac'd, and confidence;
7 A Poet's fortune! — not immense:
8 Yet, mixt with keys, and coins among,
9 Chinkt to the melody of song.
10 Canst thou forget when, high in air,
11 I saw thee flutt'ring at a fair?
12 And took thee, destin'd to be sold,
13 My lawful Purse, to have and hold?
14 Yet us'd so oft to disembogue,
15 No prudence could thy fate prorogue.
16 Like wax thy silver melted down,
17 Touch but the brass, and lo! 'twas gone:
18 And gold would never with thee stay,
19 For gold had wings, and flew away.
20 Alas, my Purse! yet still be proud,
21 For see the Virtues round thee croud!
22 See, in the room of paltry wealth,
23 Clam Temp'rance rise, the nurse of Health;
24 And Self-denial, slim and spare,
25 And Fortitude, with look severe;
[Page 102]26 And Abstinence, to leanness prone,
27 And Patience worn to skin and bone:
28 Prudence, and Foresight on thee wait,
29 And Poverty lies here in state!
30 Hopeless her spirits to recruit,
31 For ev'ry virtue is a mute.
32 Well then, my Purse, thy sabbaths keep;
33 Now Thou art empty, I shall sleep.
34 No silver sounds shall thee molest,
35 Nor golden dreams disturb my breast.
36 Safe shall I walk the streets along,
37 Amidst temptations thick and strong;
38 Catch'd by the eye, no more shall stop
39 At Wildey's toys, or Pinchbeck's shop;
40 Nor, cheap'ning Payne's ungodly books,
41 Be drawn aside by pastry cooks:
42 But fearless now we both may go
43 Where Ludgate's Mercers bow so low;
44 Beholding all with equal eye,
45 Nor mov'd at — "Madam, what d'ye buy?"
[Page 103]46 Away, far hence each worldly care!
47 Nor dun, nor pick-purse shalt Thou fear,
48 Nor flatt'rer base annoy My ear.
49 Snug shalt thou travel thro' the mob,
50 For who a Poet's purse will rob?
51 And softly sweet, in garret high,
52 Will I thy virtues magnify;
53 Out-soaring flatt'rers stinking breath,
54 And gently rhyming rats to death.
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. 100-103. 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. ()
- [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. ()