While Night in solemn Shade invests the Pole
First Line | While Night in solemn Shade invests the Pole |
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Author | Elizabeth Carter |
Date | 1739 |
Description | Lyric [Passions; Conduct, morality]. Transcribed from Carter, Elizabeth. Poems on several occasions, 1762, pp. 31–34. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CB0130752242. |
Links |
Transcription
While Night in solemn Shade invests the Pole,
And calm Reflexion soothes the pensive Soul;
While Reason undisturb'd asserts her Sway,
And Life's deceitful Colours fade away:
To Thee! all-conscious Presence! I devote
This peaceful Interval of sober Thought.
Here all my better Faculties confine,
And be this Hour of sacred Silence thine.
If by the Day's illusive Scenes misled,
My erring Soul from Virtue's Path has stray'd:
Snar'd by Example, or by Passion warm'd,
Some false Delight my giddy Sense has charm'd,
My calmer Thoughts the wretched Choice reprove,
And my best Hopes are center'd in thy Love.
Depriv'd of this, can Life one Joy afford!
It's utmost Boast a vain unmeaning Word.
But ah! how oft' my lawless Passions rove,
And break those awful Precepts I approve!
Pursue the fatal Impulse I abhor,
And violate the Virtue I adore!
Oft' when thy better Spirit's guardian Care
Warn'd my fond Soul to shun the tempting Snare,
My stubborn Will his gentle Aid represt,
And check'd the rising Goodness in my Breast,
Mad with vain Hopes, or urg'd by false Desires,
Still'd his soft Voice, and quench'd his sacred Fires.
With Grief opprest, and prostrate in the Dust,
Should'st thou condemn, I own the Sentence just.
But oh thy softer Titles let me claim,
And plead my Cause by Mercy's gentle Name.
Mercy, that wipes the penitential Tear,
And dissipates the Horrors of Despair:
From rig'rous Justice steals the vengeful Hour;
Softens the dreadful Attribute of Power;
Disarms the Wrath of an offended God,
And seals my Pardon in a Saviour's Blood.
All pow'rful Grace, exert thy gentle Sway,
And teach my rebel Passions to obey:
Lest lurking Folly with insidious Art
Regain my volatile inconstant Heart.
Shall ev'ry high Resolve Devotion frames,
Be only lifeless Sounds and specious Names?
Or rather while thy Hopes and Fears controul,
In this still Hour each Motion of my Soul,
Secure it's Safety by a sudden Doom,
And be the soft Retreat of Sleep my Tomb.
Calm let me slumber in that dark Repose,
'Till the last Morn it's orient Beam disclose:
Then, when the great Archangel's potent Sound,
Shall echo thro' Creation's ample Round,
Wak'd from the Sleep of Death, with Joy survey
The op'ning Splendors of eternal Day.
Beinecke Osborn fc132
Title | Poems on Several Occasions; Collected from D [...] |
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Period | 1761-1790 , 1791-1820 |
Archive | Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library |
p. 7.
Local title: n/a
Attributed author: n/a
Adaptation: n/a
Other variants: n/a
Other: n/a
Bodleian MS Mont. e. 14
Title | Poetry Selected and Orginal, 1788 & 1789 |
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Period | 1761-1790 , 1791-1820 |
Archive | Bodleian Library |
ff. 71v–73v.
Local Title: To Eliza Written at Midnight.
Attributed author: Scriblerus.
Adaptation: Yes. List of adaptations (with adaptation following original):
line 3: undisturb’d > now; asserts > resumes; sway > ready ray
line 5: all-conscious presence > my heart’s best tut’ress
lines 11–12 missing.
line 13: wretched choice > hasty fault
line 18: those awful precepts > the Virtue
line 21: gracious > better
line 22: fond > rash; tempting > fatal
line 25: urg’d > rack’d
line 26: his > those
line 30: gentle > sacred
lines 32–36 missing.
line 37: All pow’rful Grace > O! yet once more
line 39: Folly > evil
line 41: high > just; devotion > my bosom
line 43: Or > No
line 45: motion > passion
line 46: secure its safety by a > May heaven in kindness seal my
line 47: be the soft retreat > make the sweet wheat
line 48: Calm > There
line 50–53 [final lines] missing.
Other variants: In place of final 3 lines, 10 seemingly original lines:
"Then oft perhaps upon my early bier
Eliza’s eye may drop a pitying tear,
Forgot the follies of a friendless faithful heart,
Whose varying throbs no language can impart.
When the kind grave shall all my follies hide,
My fruitless love, my passion & my pride;
Then sometimes surely shall a gentle woe,
O'er shade her mind; the chrystal drops shall flow
In kind Regret for him, whose heart was known
With it's last pulse, to beat for her alone."
Other: Attributed date: July. 1. 1790.
Clark MS 2008.023
Title | I: "Poems extracted from Several Authors. Wi [...] |
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Period | 1761-1790 |
Archive | Clark Library |
vol. 3 p. 78-80
Local title: Untitled
Attributed author: n/a
Adaptation: n/a
Other variants: n/a
Other: n/a
Leeds Brotherton Lt 103
Title | Untitled |
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Period | 1761-1790 , 1791-1820 |
Archive | Brotherton Library |
pp. 71–74.
Local title: n/a
Attributed author: Mrs Carter.
Adaptation: n/a
Other variants: n/a
Other: n/a