The Wiccamical Chaplet a selection of original poetry; comprising smaller poems, serious and comic; classical trifles; sonnets; inscriptions and epitaphs; songs and ballads; mock-heroics, epigrams, fragments, &c. &c. Edited by George Huddesford |
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EPITAPH ON AN OLD MAID IN A COUNTRY VILLAGE. |
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 | The Wiccamical Chaplet |  |
EPITAPH ON AN OLD MAID IN A COUNTRY VILLAGE.
Good Friends, farewell; here end my cares,
And all my virgin hopes and fears;
Tho' I'm persuaded, had I tarried
Much longer here, I'd ne'er been married.
My manners, troth, were plain and downright,
Not the fine lady, nor the clown quite:—
Throughout my life, whate'er I cou'd,
I daily aim'd at doing good;
Kind office ne'er refus'd to neighbour;
A handy body at a labour;
At wedding-feasts I've bak'd and boil'd,
And ne'er one dish for malice spoil'd:
I milk'd the kine, I penn'd the fold;
Content, my richest mine of gold;
Cheerfulness clos'd the busy day:—
Themselves sure meed the Virtues pay.
And all my virgin hopes and fears;
Tho' I'm persuaded, had I tarried
Much longer here, I'd ne'er been married.
My manners, troth, were plain and downright,
Not the fine lady, nor the clown quite:—
Throughout my life, whate'er I cou'd,
I daily aim'd at doing good;
Kind office ne'er refus'd to neighbour;
A handy body at a labour;
At wedding-feasts I've bak'd and boil'd,
And ne'er one dish for malice spoil'd:
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Content, my richest mine of gold;
Cheerfulness clos'd the busy day:—
Themselves sure meed the Virtues pay.
At harvest-home I shone away,
Tho' but an indiff. Queen o' the May:
'Tis true my features were but coarse,
And yet, they would not fright a horse:
Some 've said, that I'd prefer a halter
E'er go with man unto the altar;
Ne'er but in this I gave denial—
Tho' I don't say that here I'd trial:
Proud Miss! suppose the worst, the most,
'Tis the fate of many a flaunting toast;
If ne'er a sorry fellow ask'd me:—
Haply, for you they ne'er had pass'd me.
And still I've left good fame behind me,
So see that no reproach you find me.
Tho' but an indiff. Queen o' the May:
'Tis true my features were but coarse,
And yet, they would not fright a horse:
Some 've said, that I'd prefer a halter
E'er go with man unto the altar;
Ne'er but in this I gave denial—
Tho' I don't say that here I'd trial:
Proud Miss! suppose the worst, the most,
'Tis the fate of many a flaunting toast;
If ne'er a sorry fellow ask'd me:—
Haply, for you they ne'er had pass'd me.
And still I've left good fame behind me,
So see that no reproach you find me.
| The Wiccamical Chaplet | |