THE EMPTY PURSE Rebekah Carmichael (later Hay) Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T104666 Carmichael, Miss (Rebekah) (fl. 1790-1806). Poems. Edinburgh Peter Hill 1790 p. 83. 92p.

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THE EMPTY PURSE What all despise , and all agree to curse , I view with pride and joy , an Empty Purse . When it was full , so was my heart of woe , I knew not what to do , nor where to go . I would be gen'rous , but I long'd for dress ; Appearing great , I made myself look less . I that no kindred ever dar'd to claim ; Found fifty kind relations of my name . No more could I complain of friends neglect , And daring falsehood hung around my neck ; Amaz'd I cried , What means this mighty change ; The forward fool replied , 'Tis nothing strange . Wretch , take my gold , I said , my greatest curse , Leave me an honest heart , and empty purse .