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The poetical works of Charles Lamb

A new edition
Lamb, Charles (1775-1834)
  
[dedication]

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POEMS.
  
HESTER.
  
TO CHARLES LLOYD,
  
THE THREE FRIENDS.
  
TO A RIVER IN WHICH A CHILD WAS DROWNED.
  
THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES.
  
A VISION OF REPENTANCE.
  
QUEEN ORIANA'S DREAM.
  
A BALLAD:
  
HYPOCHONDRIACUS.
  
A FAREWELL TO TOBACCO.
  
TO T. L. H.
  
LINES
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SONNETS.
 I. 
I. TO MISS KELLY.
 II. 
II. ON THE SIGHT OF SWANS IN KENSINGTON GARDEN.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII. THE FAMILY NAME.
 IX. 
IX. TO JOHN LAMB, ESQ. OF THE SOUTH-SEA-HOUSE.
 X. 
X.
 XI. 
XI.
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BLANK VERSE.
  
CHILDHOOD.
  
THE GRANDAME.
  
THE SABBATH BELLS.
  
FANCY EMPLOYED ON DIVINE SUBJECTS.
  
COMPOSED AT MIDNIGHT.
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JOHN WOODVIL.
 1. 
ACT THE FIRST.
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ACT THE SECOND.
  
Scene—An Apartment in Woodvil Hall.
  
Scene—Sherwood Forest.
 3. 
ACT THE THIRD.
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ACT THE FOURTH.
  
Scene—An Apartment in Woodvil Hall.
  
Scene—The Forest.
  
Scene—Another Part of the Forest.
  
Scene.—Woodvil Hall.
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ACT THE FIFTH.
  
[section]
  
Scene—An inner Apartment.
  
THE WITCH.
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ALBUM VERSES,
  
[dedication]
  
IN THE ALBUM OF A CLERGYMAN'S LADY.
  
IN THE AUTOGRAPH BOOK OF MRS. SERGEANT W---.
  
IN THE ALBUM OF EDITH S---.
  
TO DORA W---,
  
IN THE ALBUM OF ROTHA Q---.
  
IN THE ALBUM OF CATHERINE ORKNEY.
  
IN THE ALBUM OF LUCY BARTON.
  
IN THE ALBUM OF MISS ---.
  
IN THE ALBUM OF MRS. JANE TOWERS.
  
IN MY OWN ALBUM.
  
ANGEL HELP .
  
THE CHRISTENING.
  
ON AN INFANT DYING AS SOON AS BORN.
  
THE YOUNG CATECHIST .
  
SHE IS GOING.
  
TO A YOUNG FRIEND,
  
HARMONY IN UNLIKENESS.
  
WRITTEN AT CAMBRIDGE.
  
TO A CELEBRATED FEMALE PERFORMER IN THE “BLIND BOY.”
  
WORK.
  
LEISURE.
  
TO SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ.
  
THE GIPSY'S MALISON.
  
TO THE AUTHOR OF POEMS,
  
TO J. S. KNOWLES, ESQ.
  
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “EVERY-DAY BOOK.”
  
TO T. STOTHARD, ESQ.
  
TO A FRIEND ON HIS MARRIAGE.
  
THE SELF-ENCHANTED.
  
TO LOUISA M---, WHOM I USED TO CALL “MONKEY.”
  
[O lift with reverent hand that tarnish'd flower]
  
PINDARIC ODE TO THE TREAD MILL.
  
GOING OR GONE.
  
FREE THOUGHTS ON SEVERAL EMINENT COMPOSERS.
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THE WIFE'S TRIAL;
  
Scene.—A Library.
  
Scene.—Servants' Hall.
  
Scene.—Mrs. Selby's Chamber.
  
Scene.—An Apartment, contiguous to the last.
  
Scene.—The Library.
  
Scene.—Mrs. Selby's Chamber.
  
Scene.—A Garden.

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HESTER.

When maidens such as Hester die,
Their place ye may not well supply,
Though ye among a thousand try,
With vain endeavour.
A month or more hath she been dead,
Yet cannot I by force be led
To think upon the wormy bed,
And her together.
A springy motion in her gait,
A rising step, did indicate
Of pride and joy no common rate,
That flush'd her spirit.
2

I know not by what name beside
I shall it call:—if 'twas not pride,
It was a joy to that allied,
She did inherit.
Her parents held the Quaker rule,
Which doth the human feeling cool,
But she was train'd in Nature's school,
Nature had blest her.
A waking eye, a prying mind,
A heart that stirs, is hard to bind,
A hawk's keen sight ye cannot blind,
Ye could not Hester.
My sprightly neighbour, gone before
To that unknown and silent shore,
Shall we not meet, as heretofore,
Some summer morning,
When from thy cheerful eyes a ray
Hath struck a bliss upon the day,
A bliss that would not go away,
A sweet fore-warning?
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