(An earlier draft of the briefs on ff. 1-7.)
Docketed ‘Extracts From The Chæv: D’Æon’s Book’. The extracts relate to the Duke of Nevers (Nivernais).
Copy by Henry Thurstan Holland. In pencil.
First line: ‘Adieu thou blest, and venerable Shade!’ In the title the word ‘the’ is probably missing before ‘Earl’. Edward Stanley, afterwards the 11th Earl of Derby, married Elizabeth Hesketh on 14 September 1714. The Earl died on 22 February 1776, the Countess two days later.
—————
Transcript
On the Countess of Derby | dying immediately after Earl, to whom | She had been married above sixty years
Adieu thou blest, and venerable Shade!
Peace guard the mansion, where by dust is laid.
Since all the charms, these lower scenes afford,
In vain could hold thee from thy honor’d Lord,
But wing’d at once thy kindred spirits fly
From earth to bless each other in the Sky;
There may you crown’d with happiness review
A length of years permitted but to few,
Prolong’d by virtues which illum’d your way,
And mildly mark’d the evening of your day.
Drawn at the call of opulence, and state,
Tho’ Plenty spread her treasure at your gate,
Tho’ far and wide you saw diffus’d your fame,
And crouds in blessing hail’d the Stanley name;
Tho’ in no stem the boast of virtue shine
Of worthy Sires a more illustrious line,
With equal hand who held the steady Scale,
As Kings have wished, or faction to prevail;
Witness their glory, when the brave and good
Saw Richard fall, and Bosworth drench’d in blood,
Witness the time when fury seem’d a band
Of rebel rioters to waste the land;
When Derby rose his injur’d prince to shield,
And led his trusty legions to the field;
When one (X) {1} brave House two rolling years cou’d boast,
To bid defiance to a madding host;
And blest by all but thankless Chares {2} alone,
Both life and treasures went to guard the throne;
Tho’ all the virtues of the storied page,
Have liv’d afresh within this later age,
And ancient worth emblaz’d XX {3} one honor’d name,
The Statesman’s wisdom, and Patriot’s flame,
One honor’d name, on whose untimely bier
Each friend to public virtue dropt a tear;
Tho’ then the honors which adorn your hearse,
A nobler Eulogy shall fill the verse;
For less I deem the praise for veins to hold,
Transmitted blood from trophied Sires of old,
Than to display in mild domestic life,
In this loose age the husband, and the wife.
Together in the still sequester’d plain
For near an age you blest the nuptial chain,
No midnight rivel†, pestilential air
E’er {4} mark’d your faces with a wan despair;
From croud to croud the pleasurable roam
Ne’er stole your heart felt happiness from home.
Unchang’d XXX {5} through life the ample round you trod,
Dear to each other, and belov’d by God,
Whilst each fond partner from the other side
Not age cou’d sever, or the Grave divide.
Look up ye ill starr’d couples, if your sight
Can bear the gaze of such upbraiding light,
Ye senseless slaves of fashion’s giddy reign
Unpair’d by love who drag the galling chain,
And lost in noise and folly have recourse
From Hymen’s furies to a vile divorce,
Look up and own, that in the glittering way
Where fashion calls, and crouds for ever stray,
Naught with more beauty strikes the raptur’d eye
Than love protected by the nuptial tye:
Than love, which nourish’d from an early root
Gains strength by years, and spreads in many a shoot
Nor dies with age, but perserveres to bloom
Fresh and unwither’d e’en beyond the tomb.
—————
{1} Note on the facing page (f. 78v): ‘(X) The seige of Lathen House in the great rebellion’.
{2} A slip for ‘Charles’.
{3} Note on the facing page (f. 78v): ‘XX The late Lord Strange’.
{4} Or ‘Ee’er’.
{5} Note on the facing page (f. 81v): ‘Sans changer The family Motto.
† Sic.
Copy by Henry Thurstan Holland, dated.
Copy by Margaret Holland.
These leaves, with the frontispiece on f. 73v, comprise the whole work.
‘Publish’d as the Act directs.’ Captioned above, ‘Miss Fanny Davies’. The following quatrain appears below: ‘[Th]e Female Proteus here behold | [Wh]o rob’d the Grazier of his Gold | The Grazier would his Notes regain | But all his hopes alas! are Vain’.
Copy by Margaret Holland.
First line: ‘Patient, ye heav’ns, I bow to your decree!’.
—————
Transcript
Matilda | an Elegy
“Patient, {1} ye heav’ns, I bow to your decree!”
The fair Matilda cried, opprest with woe;
“In {2} dread submission bend the lowly knee,
And venerate the hand that strikes the blow!
Yet may I still indulge without a crime,
My sorrows for my much lov’d parent’s fate;
A Father’s temples grey before their time,
A mother sinking with misfortune’s weight!
Yet may I still for them some aid implore,?
Nor check the tear that struggles in my eye;
To see them wander faint from door to door,
No roof to shield them from the troubled sky!
If the fierce tempest beat on me alone,
(O! that such grace my earnest prayers could win.)
I’d meet with smiles misfortune’s blackest frown,
While my soul breath’d tranquillity within.
It was not always thus!—once fortune smil’d,
I thought her partial favours ne’er would end;
Peace seem’d to mark me for her fav’rite child,
And universal nature seem’d my friend.
The poor man blest me as I past him by,
Secure to meet with succour at my gate;
The rich beheld me with a fav’ring Eye,
I shar’d their friendship, while I shar’d their fate.
Wheree’er I trod, while riches gave me charms,
I saw a thousand lovers round me kneel,
All long’d to clasp such beauty in their arms,
And feign’d the transport which they did not feell†.
I scorn’d their sordid minds. but soon appear’d
A youth;—O! heavens! that such a youth could be;
All prais’d! and more my raptur’d soul {2} was cheer’d,
Than if the praises were bestow’d on me.!
Each place was desert, when he was not there;
The crouded Ballroom, or the peaceful mead;
I knew no bliss which Henry did not share,
And when he shar’d it, ’twas a bliss indeed.!
T’was all a dream, and soon that dream was past,
O! what a change my sould was doom’d to prove!
To pain, to penury, I woke at last,
To alter’d friendship, and to slighted love.!
For fortune all her former smiles withdrew;
And friendship led, where fortune wing’d her flight;
Loves garb aside the Demon Av’rice threw,
And all his native foulness shock’d my sight.
This I had born, and born without a tear,
Had met my own sad fate with dauntless view;
But O! my parents’ {3} woes I cannot bear,
These all my boasted fortitude subdue!”
She spoke; the muse oer heard the mournful tale; {4}
Her bright eye glistend with compassion’s tear;
“Sweet maid.!” she cried,! “at {5} length your prayers prevail,
A Daughter’s piety has reach’d my ear.
My wing shall guard thee from the tempest’s rage,
(As much as muse’s feeble wing can guard)
My wing shall shield thy {6} parents’ {3} helpless age,
And all a daughter’s tenderness reward.!
Be mine to bid thy breast it’s sighs forego,
The tears of anguish from thy cheek to dry,
To raise thine eye above these scenes of woe,
To fairer regions, and a brighter Sky.!”
Check her not, Criticks, in her fond career!
For thou her lays may want the touch of art,
Tho’ with harsh discord she may grate your ear,
O! let her gentle purpose melt your heart.!
—————
The spacing and indentation of the lines are irregular and it is unclear what scheme was intended. The indentation of the MS has not been reproduced. The arrangement into stanzas above is conjectural.
{1} The opening inverted commas have been supplied.
{2} Written above ‘age’, struck through.
{3} Or ‘parent’s’.
{4} Semi-colon supplied.
{5} The intended arrangement of the punctuation marks before this word is unclear.
{6} Altered imperfectly from ‘they’.
† Sic.
First line: ‘I’ve thought the fair Clarissa cries’. The word ‘Purge’ in lines 4 and 16 has been erased—presumably for delicacy’s sake—and replaced with a cross.
Consideration, £63. Witnessed by Hen. Harbin and Thomas Rea. ‘Sealed at the Rummer Tavern in the Strand.’
Copy by Margaret Holland.
First line: ‘A Knife, dear girl, cuts love they say’.