The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Joanna Baillie ::

The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Joanna Baillie

Complete in One Volume

Baillie, Joanna (1762-1851)

A SERIES OF PLAYS: IN WHICH IT IS ATTEMPTED TO DELINEATE THE STRONGER PASSIONS OF THE MIND EACH PASSION BEING THE SUBJECT OF A TRAGEDY AND A COMEDY.

II.

III.

IV.

II.

MISCELLANEOUS POETRY.

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A PROUD LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS.

Farewell, thou haughty, cruel fair!
Upon thy brow no longer wear
That sombre look of cold disdain;
I ne'er shall see thy face again.
Now every foolish wish is o'er,
And fears and doubtings are no more.

All cruel as thou art to me,
Long has my heart been fix'd on thee.
I've track'd thy footsteps o'er the green,
And shared thy rambles oft unseen;
I've linger'd near thee night and day,
When thou hast thought me far away!
I've watch'd the changes of thy face,
And fondly mark'd thy moving grace;
I've wept with joy thy smiles to see;
I've been a fool for love of thee.
Yet do not think I stay the while
Thy feeble pity to beguile:
Let favour forced still fruitless prove!
The pity cursed that brings not love!

No woman e'er shall give me pain,
Or ever break my rest again:
Nor aught that comes of womankind
Again have power to move my mind.
Far on a foreign shore I'll seek
Some lonely island bare and bleak;
There find some wild and rocky cell,
And with the untamed creatures dwell.
To hear their cries is now my choice,
Rather than man's deceitful voice;
To hear the tempest's boisterous song,
Than woman's softly witching tongue;
They wear no guise, nor promise good,
But rugged seem as they are rude.

O Phillis! thou hast wreck'd a heart
That proudly bears, but feels the smart.
Adieu, adieu! shouldst thou e'er prove
The pangs of ill requited love,
Thou'lt know what I have borne for thee,
And then thou wilt remember me.

University of Virginia Library

A PROUD LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS.