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

30^th January 1820

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