Lines written by a lady... by Eliza Emmerson

Lines written by a Lady…

Oh! Take this little volume to thy care –
And be the friend of Genius – and of ‘Clare!’
There Nature’s dictates, unadorn’d by art,
She sweetly tells; and powerful, doth impart
Those moral precepts – in such simple strain
We read – we wonder – and respect the swain.
Hail! native genius!  bred in lowly vale,
May’st thou be cherish’d by a fostering gale.
Ye friends to genius!  early succour yield
And pluck this wild flower from the common field –
Transplant it to a soil more genial, warm
Where by fond culture it each sense may charm;
Oh! Nurse this minstrel!  Nature’s simple child
‘That he may sing his wood-notes sweet and wild,’
To charm the ear, to glad the feeling heart,
And to the mind, new beauties to impart;
Let not each talent pine in shades away –
Oh, call the labourer forth to brighter day!
But should alas!  such succour not be lent
‘He’ll put up with distress – and be content’. (*)

Eliza Louisa Emmerson
30th January 1820

(*) line 46 of Clare’s poem ‘Helpstone’

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