Edition of "From Mrs. Wilmot to her Sister Caroline Morris During a fit of illness January 1768"
From Mrs. Wilmot to her Sister Caroline Morris During a fit of illness January 1768.
[f. 39]
Oh! thou my Dearest Sister Friend and Child
Cordial[1]of Life however thou art styled
Thou sweet companion in each bliss I know
Thou kind partaker in each heart-felt Woe
How shall I thank thee for the various pains
Thy feeling Heart for me and mine sustains
How does my fond Remembrance trace thee back
A radiant lamp thro’ dismal scenes of black
The certain Cynosure[2]my way to mark
Tossed and bewildered in my shatter’d Barkº Bark= small sailing vessel
When dire Disease hath with her iron hand
O’er my lov’d Children held her Ebonº Wand Ebon= hard black wood
And I appalled aghast with fear half dead
Stood a machine without a Heart or Head
Thou hast on wings of Wind with ready thoug[ht]
Some quick relief some Panacea[3]brought
[f. 40]
With each appliance every means and art
That Wisdom Judgement goodness could impart
When Melancholly fell would oft infuse
Through all my curdled veins her Hebon juice[4]
And roused imagination set on Fire
Wou’d roam in Regions of Chimeras[5]dire
Where never footstep ventured yet to tread
Save by Prophetic Mothers frantic led
Where Death in every Portraiture they drew
And in the panting Babe compar’d each hue
How hast thou soothed and combatted each Ill
With Syrens voice and Reasons Magic Pill
Thy sugar’d words diffus’d the precious Balm
Till wearied Nature re-assumed her Calm
And when by Time or Art some beam would opeº ope= open
And blushing Health would dawn a ray of hope
Thy silver Feet on pinions light wou’d bear[6]
The welcome news their mournfull Sireºto cheer Sire= father
Whose eyes ne’er felt the harbinger of sleep
But pensive look and painfull Vigils keep
[f. 41]
Anxious for them but chief for me his care
This Pride may boast and Gratitude declare
Then how can thanks repay such Love as thine
Or how can words express such thanks as mine
Yet read my heart in these untutor’d Lays[7]
Nor think I mean to recompense by Praise
For well I know thy gen’rous Soul would grieve
Nor wishes thanks or praises to receive
Delighting like that sacred Essence bright
Whose Spirit all thy thoughts & actions light
To spread dilate without or limit bound
Peace & felicity to all around
And be the Source which Blessings wide supplies
Concealing still the spring from whence they rise
SW[8]
[1]Cordial Comforting and restorative medicine.
[2]Cynosure Someone that guides and directs as a guiding star.
[3]Panacea Medicine curing all diseases; named after the Greek goddess of universal remedy.
[4]Hebon Substance with a poisonous juice; referred to by Marlowe.
[5]Chimeras In Greek mythology, a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tale.
[6]Thy...bear Alludes to the winged sandals of Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods.
[7]Lays Short lyric or narrative poem.
[8]SW See Fig. 2 in Sarah Wilmot exhibit, Notebook and Signatures.