THESE Poems are all corrected from the author's manuscripts, with their respective dates, and the names of the persons to whom they were addressed, supplied wherever they could be ascertained, which indeed was mostly from Mrs. Carter's own communication to the editor. A few notes are added by way of illustration.
The Poems which are reprinted from Cave's edition in 1738, are preserved more as literary curiosities than from their intrinsic merit; in which, though some of them are not deficient, they are very unequal to those which were her later productions. But it should be remembered, that they were all written before Mrs. Carter had attained the age of twenty years, and that they were thought at the time to be extraordinary proofs of early genius. With respect to those which have never before appeared in print, they were selected from among several others, which, having had a cross with a pencil drawn over them, it was supposed her maturer judgment chose to reject. On those which are given to the Public there was no such mark of reprobation, and it was therefore thought that the Editor might exercise his own discretion concerning them.
Those Poems which have never been published before are distinguished by Those which have never appeared but in Cave's edition in 1738, by .
vivendi rectè qui prorogat horam,
Rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis, at ille
Labitur & labetur, in omne volubilis ævum.
THOU Pow'r supreme! by whose command I live,
The grateful tribute of my praise receive :
To thy indulgence I my being owe,
And all the joys which from that being flow.
Scarce eighteen suns have form'd the rolling year,
And run their destined courses round this sphere,
Since thy creative eye my form survey'd,
Midst undistinguish'd heaps of matter laid.
Thy skill my elemental clay refin'd,
The vagrant particles in order join'd:
With perfect symmetry compos'd the whole,
And stamp'd thy sacred image on my soul:
A soul susceptible of endless joy,
Whose frame nor Force, nor Time can e'er destroy:
Which shall survive, when Nature claims my breath,
And bid defiance to the darts of Death;
U Deus Omnipotens, quo dante, hoc æthere vescor,
Debita tu laudum præmia numen habe:
Esse mihi, indulgens hominum Pater, ipse dedisti,
Ipse voluptates, hoc quot ab esse fluunt.
Vix annus ter sextus adhuc sua sydera torsit
Bisve novem longos sol tulit orbe gyros,
Ex quo virgineâ hæc sine formâ massa jacebat,
Te lustrante, rudi semisepulta chao.
Te formante, lutumq; elementaq; prima coibant,
Nexaq; membra stabant, ordine quæq; suo.
Te partes formante ligat symphonia concors,
Et tua sacrâ animam signat image notâ.
Das animam æquiparem superis, æviq; perennem
Quam non vis perdet, non teret atra dies.
Hæc manet ætherea è corpore cum volet aura,
Hæc falcem mortis, telaq; dura fugat.
To realms of bliss with active freedom soar,
And live when earth and skies shall be no more.
Author of life! in vain my tongue essays,
For this immortal gift to speak thy praise!
How shall my heart its grateful sense reveal,
Where all the energy of words must fail?
O may its influence in my life appear,
And ev'ry action prove my thanks sincere!
Grant me, great God, a heart to Thee inclin'd:
Increase my faith, and rectify my mind:
Teach me betimes to tread thy sacred ways,
And to thy service consecrate my days.
Still as thro' life's perplexing maze I stray,
Be Thou the guiding star to mark my way.
Conduct the steps of my unguarded youth,
And point their motions to the paths of Truth.
Protect me by thy providential care,
And warn my soul to shun the Tempter's snare.
Thro' all the shifting scenes of varied life,
In calms of ease, or ruffling storms of grief,
'Thro' each event of this inconstant state,
Preserve my temper equal and sedate.
Give me a mind, that nobly can despise
The low designs, and little arts of vice.
Be my religion such as taught by Thee,
Alike from pride and superstition free.
Inform my judgment, regulate my will,
My reason strengthen, and my passions still.
To gain thy favour be my first great end,
And to that scope may ev'ry action tend.
Amidst the pleasures of a prosp'rous state,
Whose flatt'ring charms th' untutor'd heart elate,
Hæc resoluta petit sedes habitatq; beatas
Postquam abiere oculis, sydera, terra, fretum.
Aucta, benigne Parens! tanto quâ munere linguâ
Qua laudem æternam dicere voce queam?
Quâve ope cor fundet sensum, quâ gaudia spiret,
Vis ubi sermonis, vanaq; verba cadunt?
O utinam memorem pietas me vitaq; monstrent!
Atq; ferat gratam pectore quicquid ago!
Corde, Pater, toto vivam tibi dedita, mentem
Corrige, & accumula pectora plena fide.
Te monstrante iter insistat cæleste puella
Desq; viam hanc mulier, des pede carpat anus.
Dumq; erro incertas vitæ perplexa per undas,
Tu mihi sis magnes, tu mihi sydus eas.
Dirige tu infirmæ vestigia læta juventæ,
Inq; vias veri Tu bone flecte gradus.
Pasce manu, Pater, et curâ defende perenni,
Disce Orci ut fugiam præda petita plagas.
Humanæ facies vitæ quæcumq; resurgat
Otia seu hinc rident, seu furit inde dolor,
"Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,'
Mens intacta malis sit mea parq; sibi.
Des animam vitii turpes quæ spernere noscat
Nobilis insidias, artificesq; dolos.
Sit mea relligio data Te divinitus; inflat
Quam non hinc fastus, non premit inde timor.
Sit mihi judicium rectum, sit recta voluntas,
Ipsa regam affectus, me ratio alma regat.
Efficiam quæ facta probas; hoc fine quiescam:
Hanc metam vitæ munera quæq; petant.
Gaudia dum cingunt, rapit et mea vela secunda
Aura, quibus nimium mens tumet alta bonis
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