The Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard With a Memoir by Blanchard Jerrold |
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CONGRATULATORY VERSES TO MISS ELLEN TREE.
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 | The Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard |  |
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CONGRATULATORY VERSES TO MISS ELLEN TREE.
‘This amiable lady has been in a very perilous situation. A packet, in which she had taken her passage from Cork to Liverpool, was driven about in rough weather for two days and nights on that dangerous coast.’—Daily Paper.
Ellen, who shinest up aloft,
Sweet star—oh! Ellen Tree,
Whom I have gone to see so oft,
Why did you go to sea?
Sweet star—oh! Ellen Tree,
Whom I have gone to see so oft,
Why did you go to sea?
Not crocodile are these two eyes,
Thus weeping without stint;
Such blows might e'en macadamise
One's heart, though flesh were flint.
Thus weeping without stint;
Such blows might e'en macadamise
One's heart, though flesh were flint.
Now mine is soft, and I must sob
For Nature, thus at strife—
To think that she had sought to rob
Her fairest Tree, of Life.
For Nature, thus at strife—
To think that she had sought to rob
Her fairest Tree, of Life.
You dreamt not, when resolved to go,
Of risks in coming back;
Yet might you not expect a blow,
When taking such a smack?
Of risks in coming back;
Yet might you not expect a blow,
When taking such a smack?
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You might have feared the lightning's fork;
Had known when thunders roared,
That, in a packet boat of Cork,
You were not safe on board!
Had known when thunders roared,
That, in a packet boat of Cork,
You were not safe on board!
Two year-like days were you at sea,
Two nights like centuries dark;
While surges night and day, O Tree!
Were beating 'gainst your ‘bark.’
Two nights like centuries dark;
While surges night and day, O Tree!
Were beating 'gainst your ‘bark.’
Yet howsoe'er the winds might chafe,
Your vessel crack and quiver,
You have arrived, thank fortune, safe,
In Liverpool—a liver.
Your vessel crack and quiver,
You have arrived, thank fortune, safe,
In Liverpool—a liver.
Oh, Ellen, it is sweet to know,
When some that wore the crown,
Some actresses have sunk so low,
That you have not gone down!
When some that wore the crown,
Some actresses have sunk so low,
That you have not gone down!
Since you old Ocean's ire survive,
Oh tempt no more his rage;
But when you travel, still contrive
To be—upon the stage.
Oh tempt no more his rage;
But when you travel, still contrive
To be—upon the stage.
1835.
| The Poetical Works of Laman Blanchard | |