First Line	Thee, Mary, with this Ring I wed
Author	Samuel Bishop
Date	1796
Description	Occasional (Presentation of gift) [Love; Courtship, marriage]. Transcribed from Bishop, Samuel. "To the Same, on the Anniversary of her Wedding Day, which was also her Birth Day. With a Ring." The poetical works of the Rev. Samuel Bishop... vol. 2, 1796, pp. 19–22. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE\|CW0116327478.
Links	ESTC

Transcription

"Thee, Mary, with this Ring I wed" —

So, fourteen Years ago, I said. —

Behold another Ring! — "for what?"

"To wed thee o'er again?" — Why not?

With that first Ring I married Youth,

Grace, Beauty, Innocence, and Truth;

Taste long admir'd, Sense long rever'd,

And all my MOLLY then appear'd.

If she, by Merit since disclos'd,

Prove twice the Woman I suppos'd,

I plead that double Merit now,

To justify a double Vow.

Here then to-day, (with Faith as sure,

With Ardor as intense, as pure,

As when, amidst the Rites divine,

I took thy Troth, and plighted mine,)

To thee, sweet Girl, my second Ring

A Token and a Pledge I bring:

With this I wed, till death us part,

Thy riper Virtues to my heart;

Those Virtues, which before untry'd,

The Wife has added to the Bride:

Those Virtues, whose progressive claim,

Endearing Wedlock's very name,

My soul enjoys, my song approves,

For conscience' sake, as well as Love's.

And why? — They shew me every hour,

Honour's high thought, Affection's power,

Discretion's deed, sound Judgment's sentence, —

— And teach me all things — but Repentance. —

Beinecke Osborn c391

Title	Untitled
Period	1761-1790
Archive	Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Page: n/a

Local title: Verses sent by a gentleman to his lady, with a ring, by the author of those with a knife.

Attributed author: a gentleman.

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. 27–28

Local title: A Gentleman, on the late anniversary of his wedding-day, presented his wife with a Ring and the following Lines.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: Preceded by another Samuel Bishop poem (though not attributed as such), "A Knife, dear girl, cuts love, they say..."

Clark MS 2019.001

Title	Untitled
Period	1791-1820
Archive	Clark Library

pp. 97–99.

Local title: Verses given with a ring by a Gentleman to his Lady on the anniversary of his wedding day.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: First line: Thee Betsy with this ring I wed...

Other: n/a

Folger MS M.a.182

Title	A miscellaneous collection in prose and vers [...]
Period	1791-1820
Archive	Folger Shakespeare Library

Begun on p. 113, p. 112 cut-out, so p. 113 pasted-in as p. 112; finishes as originally copied on p. 114.

Local title: Lines addressed to a lady, by her husband on the anniversary of their marriage.

Attributed author: her Husband.

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

pp. 299–301.

Local title: A Gentleman on his late Anniversary of his wedding day presented his Wife with a Ring & the following Lines.

Attributed author: Mr Bishop.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Folger MS W.a.271

Title	Poetry
Period	1761-1790
Archive	Folger Shakespeare Library

pp. 61–62.

Local title: To Mrs Bishop with a Ring—sent by her Husband.

Attributed author: Her Husband.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Houghton MS Eng 1323

Title	Loisir
Period	1731-1760
Archive	Houghton Library

p. 4.

Local title: To Mrs. —, with a Ring.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: From a print paste-in headed, "POETRY./ Mr. Editor, A Gentleman, on the late anniversary of his wedding day, presented his wife with a ring, and the following lines. I doubt not you will be obliged to me for a copy; particularly when you know they are by the same hand who presented a knife and verses on a former anniversary of his wedding./ I am,/ Your Constant Reader." Attributed date: January 1, 1779.

Leeds Brotherton Lt 100

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

ff. 104r–103v inverted.

Local title: To Mrs Locke with a Ring.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Leeds Brotherton Lt 11

Title	Untitled
Period	1701-1730
Archive	Brotherton Library

pp. 304–305.

Local title: A gentleman on the late anniversary of his wedding day presented his wife with a ring & the following lines.

Attributed author: A gentleman.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

UChicago Library Codex Ms. 515

Title	Untitled
Period	1731-1760
Archive	University of Chicago Special Collections and Research Center

Folio 20

Local title: A Gentleman on the late anniversary of his Wedding day, presented his Wife with a Ring and the following lines

Attributed author: unattributed.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

UChicago Library Codex Ms. 522

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

Pg. 12

Local title: untitled

Attributed author: unattributed

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. 227

Local title: From a Gentleman to his Wife on their wedding day with a Ring

Attributed author: Unattributed.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

UChicago Library Codex Ms. 581

Title	Untitled
Period	1761-1790
Archive	University of Chicago Special Collections and Research Center

pp. 304–306

Local title: To Mrs — with a Ring. 1778.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: possibly accompanied by a source attribution; "1-1-80. Russ—altakid" (or something like that) is written at the bottom of the last page.