The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poems, by Sir John Carr

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Title: Poems

Author: Sir John Carr

Release Date: December 2, 2003 [EBook #10367]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS ***

Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jonathan Ingram, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

POEMS,

BY

SIR JOHN CARR.

Non ulla Musis pagina gratior,
Quam quae severis ludicra jungere
Novit, fatigatamque nugis
Utilibus recreare mentem.

1809.

POEMS.

DEDICATION.

TO

LADY WARREN,

&c. &c. &c.

MADAM,

In dedicating the following Poems to your Ladyship, I cannot help regretting that they are not more worthy of such an honour; that I might consequently have used it as an humble mode of expressing my sense of the happy and enlightened hours which I have passed in your Ladyship's society, and of the polite attentions which I have at various times received from you, and the gallant object of your connubial affection, particularly at the House of British Embassy at Petersburgh, where you afforded to the Ladies of the North a just representation of the dignified virtue, cultivated mind, and attractive beauty, of the higher order of females of your own country.

I have the honour to remain,

Madam,

Your Ladyship's

Obedient faithful Servant,

JOHN CARR.

Temple. June 1809

PREFACE.

This Volume is submitted to the Public with all that diffidence which ought to attend the publication of Verses, many of which were written in the gay and happy era of boyhood, and others in subsequent periods of maturer life, as a relief from more arduous pursuits.

They lay no pretensions to the depth and solidity of the effusions of the Muse in her elevated flights; they are the few wild notes of the simple shepherd, and do not even affect to imitate the rich cadence of the scientific musician.

If the Author might, without the imputation of vanity, select for them a place in the Temple of Poetry, he would endeavour to class them in that niche which is appropriated for the reception of the light and playful Vers de Societé.

Should the Reader find them but little worthy of his approval, he will not have reason at the same time to condemn their prolixity: their brevity will, at least in some degree, atone for their want of fire and fancy.

It is thought proper to state that some of the following Poems have appeared before at various times, in a fugitive shape; and that the Poetry in the Author's Tours is here collected.

POEMS,

&c. &c.

VERSES

WRITTEN IN A GROTTO

In a Wood on the Side of the River Dart,

IN DEVONSHIRE.

Tell me, thou grotto! o'er whose brow are seen
Projecting plumes, and shades of deep'ning green,—
While not a sound disturbs thy stony hall,
While all thy dewy drops forget to fall,—
Why canst thou not thy soothing charms impart,
And shed thy quiet o'er this beating heart?
Tell me, thou richly-painted river! tell,
That on thy mirror'd plane dost mimic well
Each pendent tree and every distant hill,
Tipp'd with red lustre, beauteous, bright, and still,—

Can I not, gazing on thy tranquil tide,
Shed ev'ry grief upon thy rocky side?
Or must I rove thy margin, calm and clear,
The only agitated object near?
Oh! tell me, too, thou babbling cold cascade!
Whose waters, falling thro' successive shade,
Unspangled by the brightness of the sky,
Awake each echo to a soft reply,—
Say, canst thou not my bosom-grief befriend,
And bid one drop upon my heart descend?
When all thy songsters soothe themselves to sleep.
Ah! must these aching eyes for ever weep?
And must their frequent waters, like thine own,
Drop, idly drop, on unimpressive stone?
Or, when my beauteous fair shall deign to grace
The humid foliage of thy mossy base,
Canst thou not tell how many a rock below
Impedes to kiss thy waters as they flow?
In her mind canst thou not the feeling rear
To stop, or thus caress, each genuine tear?

Teach her, oh! teach her, then, thou cold cascade!
Pour all thy lessons for the lovely maid!
And thou, bless'd grotto! let thy silence prove
Her mute consenting answer to my love!
And thou, bright river! as thou roll'st along,
Bear on thy wand'ring wave a lover's song!
Strong as thy current, as thy waters pure,
Teach her to feel the passion I endure!

LINES TO THE MEMORY OF MY DEAR BROTHER,

W.T.P. CARR, ESQ.

—manibus date lilia plenis: Purpureos spargam flores.

Aeneid, lib. vi.

Tho' no funereal grandeur swell my song,
Nor genius, eagle-plum'd, the strain prolong,—
Tho' Grief and Nature here alone combine
To weep, my William! o'er a fate like thine,—
Yet thy fond pray'r, still ling'ring on my ear,
Shall force its way thro' many a gushing tear:
The Muse, that saw thy op'ning beauties spread,
That lov'd thee living, shall lament thee dead!
Ye graceful Virtues! while the note I breathe,
Of sweetest flow'rs entwine a fun'ral wreath,—
Of virgin flow'rs, and place them round his tomb,
To bud, like him, and perish in their bloom!
Ah! when these eyes saw thee serenely wait
The last long separating stroke of Fate,—
When round thy bed a kindred weeping train
Call'd on thy voice to greet them, but in vain,—
When o'er thy lips we watch'd thy fault'ring breath—
When louder grief proclaim'd th'approach of death,—
Thro' ev'ry vein an icy horror chill'd,
Colder than marble ev'ry bosom thrill'd.
Unsettled still, tho' exercis'd to grieve,
Scarce would my mind the alter'd sight believe;
Familiar scenes a transient calm inspire,
Poor flutt'ring Fancy fann'd the vain desire,
'Till with sad proof thy wasted relics rise,
And restless Nature pours uncall'd-for sighs.
Ah! long, my William! shall thy picture rest,
Time shall not wear it, imag'd in my breast;
Yes, thou shall live while fond remembrance lives,
'Till he who mourns thee asks the line he gives.
No common joy, no fugitive delight,
Regret like this could in my breast excite;
For then my sorrow had been less severe,
And tears less copious had bedew'd the bier.
From the same breast our milky food we drew,
Entwin'd affection strengthen'd as we grew;
Why further trace? The flatt'ring dream is o'er—