The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume III.Cibber, Theophilus
General
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume III.
Cibber, Theophilus
Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Poets, Irish -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
She had long laboured under the pains of a rheumatism, which had
confined her to her chamber a considerable time before her death, which
happened at Ashton in Devonshire, December 15, 1710, in the 55th year of
her age, and lies buried there without either monument or inscription.
The poetical Works of this Lady consist chiefly in the Song of the Three
Children Paraphrased, some Pindaric Odes, Familiar Epistles, and Songs.
We shall select as a specimen, a Dialogue between Lucinda and Marissa,
occasioned by the death of her Ladyship's Daughter, in the early bloom
of her youth. It is of a very melancholy cast, and expressive of the
grief me must have felt upon that tender occasion. Her ladyship has
informed us in her preface to her poems, that she generally chose
subjects suited to her present temper of mind. 'These pieces (says she)
were the employments of my leisure hours, the innocent amusements of a
solitary life; in them the reader will find a picture of my mind, my
sentiments all laid open to their view; they will sometimes see me
chearful, pleased, sedate, and quiet; at other times, grieving,
complaining, and struggling with my passions, blaming myself,
endeavouring to pay homage to my reason, and resolving for the future
with a decent calmness, an unshaken constancy, and a resigning temper,
to support all the troubles, all the uneasiness of life, and then,
by unexpected emergencies, unforeseen disappointments, sudden, and
surprising turns of fortune, discomposed, and shock'd, 'till I have
rallied my scattered fears, got new strength, and by making unwearied
resistance, gained the better of my afflictions, and restored my mind to
its former tranquility. Would we (continues her ladyship) contract our
desires, and learn to think that only necessary, which nature has made
so; we should be no longer fond of riches, honours, applauses, and
several other things, which are the unhappy occasions of much mischief
to the world; and doubtless, were we so happy as to have a true notion
of the dignity of our nature, of those great things for which we were
designed, and of the duration and felicity of that state to which we are
hastening, we should scorn to stoop to mean actions, and blush at the
thoughts of doing any thing below our character.' In this manner does
our authoress discover her sentiments of piety. We now shall subjoin the
specimen;
DIALOGUE.
MARISSA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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