First Line	A Knife, dear Girl, cuts Love, they say
Author	Samuel Bishop
Date	1796
Description	Occasional (Presentation of gift) [Love; Marriage, courtship]. Transcribed from "To Mrs Bishop, with a Present of a Knife." Bishop, Samuel. The poetical works of the Rev. Samuel Bishop... Vol. 2, 1796. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE\|CW0116327478.

Transcription

"A Knife," dear Girl, "cuts Love," they say!

Mere modish Love, perhaps it may —

— For any tool, of any kind,

Can separate — what was never join'd.

The Knife that cuts our Love in two,

Will have much tougher work to do;

Must cut your Softness, Truth and Spirit,

Down to the vulgar size of Merit;

To level yours, with modern Taste,

Must cut a world of Sense to waste;

And from your single Beauty's store,

Clip, what would dizen out a score.

The self-same blade from me must sever

Sensation, Judgment, Sight, for ever:

All Memory of Endearments past,

All Hope of Comforts long to last;—

All that makes fourteen Years with you,

A Summer;—and a short one too;—

All that Affection feels and fears,

When hours without you seem like years.

Till that be done, (and I'd as soon

Believe this Knife will chip the Moon,)

Accept my Present, undeterr'd,

And leave their Proverbs to the Herd.

If in a kiss—delicious treat!—

Your Lips acknowledge the receipt,

Love, fond of such substantial fare,

And proud to play the glutton there,

All thoughts of cutting will disdain,

Save only—"cut and come again!"

Beinecke Osborn c82

Title	Untitled
Period	1791-1820
Archive	Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

p. 27.

Local title: With a present of a knife.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Beinecke Osborn d49

Title	Untitled
Period	1791-1820
Archive	Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

pp. 25–26

Local title: Verses, sent by a Gentleman, to his lady, with a present of a knife.

Attributed author: "(Said to be written by R.B. Sheridan Esqr)."

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: Followed by another Samuel Bishop poem (though not attributed as such), "Thee, Mary, with this Ring I wed..."

Bodleian MS Eng. poet. d. 189

Title	Untitled
Period	1791-1820
Archive	Bodleian Library

p. 103.

Local title: Verses to a Lady.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: Crossed out.

Clark MS 2019.001

Title	Untitled
Period	1791-1820
Archive	Clark Library

pp. 127–129

Local title: Verses by a Gentleman to his Lady with a present of a knife.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Folger MS M.a.53–58

Title	Untitled
Period	1761-1790 , 1791-1820
Archive	Folger Shakespeare Library

p. 286.

Local title: n/a

Attributed author: Mr. Bishop.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Leeds Brotherton Lt 100

Title	Untitled
Period	1761-1790 , 1791-1820
Archive	Brotherton Library

f. 105 inverted.

Local title: Verses sent by a gentleman to his lady with a present of a knife.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Leeds Brotherton Lt 104

Title	Poems of various kinds by the late Revd. Pet [...]
Period	1731-1760 , 1761-1790
Archive	Brotherton Library

ff. 86–87r.

Local title: Sent by a Gentleman to his Lady, with a Present of a Knife.

Attributed author: the Revd. Mr. Bishop of Merchant Taylor's School Head Master in 1788.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

UChicago Library Codex Ms. 557

Title	Farago
Period	1731-1760 , 1761-1790
Archive	University of Chicago Special Collections and Research Center

Pp. 209

Local title: From a Gentleman to his Lady with a present of a Knife

Attributed author: Unattributed.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

UChicago Library Codex Ms. 69

Title	Poetry miscellany
Period	1761-1790 , 1791-1820
Archive	University of Chicago Special Collections and Research Center

Page: 104v-105v

Local title: Untitled

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a