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[Page 22]
THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER'S COMPLAINT.
1 A chimney sweeper's boy am I;
2 Pity my wretched fate!
3 Ah, turn your eyes; 'twould draw a tear,
4 Knew you my helpless state.
5 Far from my home, no parents I
6 Am ever doom'd to see;
7 My master, should I sue to him,
8 He'd flog the skin from me.
9 Ah, deareft Madam, dearest Sir,
10 Have pity on my youth;
11 Tho' black, and cover'd o'er with rags,
12 I tell you nought but truth.
[Page 23]13 My feeble limbs, benumb'd with cold,
14 Totter beneath the fack,
15 Which ere the morning dawn appears
16 Is loaded on my back.
17 My legs you see are burnt and bruis'd,
18 My feet are gall'd by stones,
19 My flesh for lack of food is gone,
20 I'm little else but bones.
21 Yet still my master makes me work,
22 Nor spares me day or night;
23 His 'prentice boy he says I am,
24 And he will have his right.
25 "Up to the highest top," he cries,
26 There call out chimney-sweep! "
27 With panting heart and weeping eyes
28 Trembling I upwards creep.
[Page 24]29 But stop! no more — I see him come;
30 Kind Sir, remember me!
31 Oh, could I hide me under ground,
32 How thankful should I be!
About this text
Author: Mary Alcock (née Cumberland)
Themes:
Genres:
complaint
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Source edition
Alcock [née Cumberland], Mary, 1741?–1798. Poems, &c. &c. by the Late Mrs. Mary Alcock [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Dilly, Poultry, 1799, pp. 22-24. vii,[25],183,[1]p. (ESTC T86344) (Page images digitized by University of Michigan Library.)
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 Alcock (née Cumberland)
- THE 55TH PSALM. ()
- THE 8TH, 9TH, AND 10TH VERSES OF THE 57TH PSALM. ()
- ADDRESSED TO SLEEP. ()
- THE AIR BALLOON. ()
- AN AUNT'S LAMENTATION FOR THE ABSENCE OF HER NIECE. WRITTEN FROM HASTINGS. ()
- THE BODY-POLITIC. ()
- CHARADE. ()
- A COLLEGE LIFE. FOR THE VASE AT BATH-EASTON. ()
- THE CONFINED DEBTOR. A FRAGMENT FROM A PRISON. ()
- DITTO. ()
- DITTO. ()
- DITTO. ()
- EPIGRAM. ()
- FROM THE XIITH CHAPTER OF ST. MARK, 41ST VERSE, TO THE END. ()
- THE HIVE OF BEES: A FABLE, WRITTEN IN DECEMBER 1792. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- IN RETURN FOR THE PRESENT OF A PAIR OF BUCKLES. ()
- INSTRUCTIONS, SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN IN PARIS, FOR THE MOB IN ENGLAND. ()
- THE LXIIID PSALM. ()
- MODERN MANNERS. ()
- ON PLEASURE. ()
- ON RAILLERY. WRITTEN IN MAY 1781, FOR THE VASE AT BATH-EASTON. ()
- ON SENSIBILITY. ()
- ON THE DEATH OF DAVID GARRICK, Esq. ()
- ON THE HUMAN HEART. ()
- ON THE VIOLENT DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF PEERS, UPON THE BILL FOR SUSPENDING THE HABEAS CORPUS, &c. ()
- ON WHAT THE WORLD WILL SAY. ()
- A PARODY UPON SWIFT's NURSES' SONG. ()
- A PARODY UPON WHO DARES TO KILL KILDARE. ()
- A PARTY AT QUADRILLE. ()
- THE POWER OF FANCY. WRITTEN FOR THE VASE AT BATH-EASTON. ()
- PSALM CXXXIX. ()
- A RECEIPT FOR WRITING A NOVEL. ()
- RIDDLE. ()
- THE ROSE TREE AND THE POPPY. A FABLE. ()
- A SONG. ()
- TO A CERTAIN AUTHOR, ON HIS WRITING A PROLOGUE, WHEREIN HE DESCRIBES A TRAVELLER FROZEN IN A SNOW STORM. ()
- UPON READING SOME VERSES UPON A SCULL. ()
- A VISION. ()
- WRITTEN AT HARROWGATE. ()
- WRITTEN AT SWANDLING BAR, IN THE COUNTY OF CAVAN, IN IRELAND. ()
- WRITTEN FROM BATH TO A FRIEND IN THE COUNTRY, IN THE YEAR 1783. ()
- WRITTEN IN IRELAND. ()
- WRITTEN ON EASTER DAY. ()
- WRITTEN ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. ()
- THE XXIIID PSALM. ()