[Page 107]
THE AIR BALLOON.
1 No more of Phaeton let poets tell,
2 I care not where he drove nor where he fell;
3 No more I'll wish for fam'd Aurora's car,
4 To drive me forth, high as the morning star;
5 In Air Balloon to distant realms I go,
6 "And leave the gazing multitude below."
7 No more I'll hear of Venus and her doves,
8 Nor Cupid flying with the little loves;
9 Nor would I now in Juno's chariot ride
10 In princely pomp, with peacock by my side;
11 In higher state, in Air Balloon I go,
12 I'd have the gods and goddesses to know.
13 No more in oriental language fair
14 I'll read of Genii wafting through the air;
[Page 108]15 Nor longer will I seek (by Persian wrought)
16 A carpet, to transport me by a thought;
17 Enough for me in Air Balloon to go,
18 And leave th' enquiring multitude below.
19 No more of Pegasus (unruly steed)
20 To reach Parnassus' Mount, shall I have need;
21 Nor will I now the Muses favour court,
22 To shew me Pindus' Hill, their chief resort;
23 To these fair realms in Air Balloon I go,
24 And leave the grov'ling multitude below.
25 No more shall Fancy now (betwitching fair!)
26 Erect me castles, floating in the air;
27 Such vague, such feeble structures I despise,
28 I'll kick them down as I ascend the skies;
29 For higher far in Air Balloon I go,
30 And leave the wond'ring multitude below.
31 No longer, now, at distance need I try
32 To trace each planet with perspective eye;
[Page 109]33 Nor longer wish, with fairies from afar;
34 To slide me gently down on falling star;
35 For up or down with equal ease I steer,
36 And view with naked eye the splendid sphere.
37 Alas poor Newton! late for learning fam'd,
38 No more shall thy researches e'er be nam'd;
39 For greater Newtons now each day shall soar,
40 High up to Heaven, and new worlds explore;
41 Since swift, in Air Balloons, aloft we go,
42 And leave the stupid multitude below.
43 No more the terrors of the deep I fear;
44 Alike to me, if friend be far or near;
45 This sea-girt isle I distant leave behind,
46 Visit each kingdom and survey mankind;
47 For now with ease in Air Balloon I ride,
48 No more compell'd to wait for wind or tide.
49 Hail, happy lovers! late by distance curst,
50 (Of all the worldly tortures sure the worst)
[Page 110]51 No more condemn'd an absence to deplore,
52 And, sighing, breathe your vows from shore to shore;
53 For through the air, swift in Balloons ye roll,
54 "And waft yourselves from India to the pole."
55 In vain may party rage assail mine ear;
56 If war or peace, alike I'm free from care;
57 Should plague or pestilence infect the land,
58 The purest regions are at my command;
59 Where safe from harm, in Air Balloon I go,
60 And leave the sickly multitude below.
61 No more of judge or jury will I hear,
62 The laws of land extend not to the air;
63 Nor bailiff now my spirits can affright,
64 For up I mount, and soon am out of sight;
65 Thus, screen'd from justice, in Balloon I go,
66 And leave th' insolvent multitude below.
67 How few the worldly evils now I dread,
68 No more confin'd this narrow earth to tread:
[Page 111]69 Should fire, or water, spread destruction drear,
70 Or earthquake shake this sublunary sphere,
71 In Air Balloon to distant realms I fly,
72 And leave the creeping world to fink and die.
Text
- TEI/XML [chunk] (XML - 165K / ZIP - 16K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
- Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 3.0K / ZIP - 1.6K)
Facsimile (Source Edition)
(Page images digitized by University of Michigan Library.)
Images
- Image #1 (JPEG - 68K)
- Image #2 (JPEG - 79K)
- Image #3 (JPEG - 80K)
- Image #4 (JPEG - 81K)
- Image #5 (JPEG - 25K)
All Images (PDF - 654K)
About this text
Author: Mary Alcock (née Cumberland)
Themes:
Genres:
occasional poem
Text view / Document view
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. 107-111. 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. ()
- AN AUNT'S LAMENTATION FOR THE ABSENCE OF HER NIECE. WRITTEN FROM HASTINGS. ()
- THE BODY-POLITIC. ()
- CHARADE. ()
- THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER'S COMPLAINT. ()
- 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. ()