Phillis Wheatley
Poems on various subjects, religious and moral
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4057664181695
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PREFACE.
JOHN WHEATLEY.
TO THE PUBLIC.
P O E M S
O N
V A R I O U SS U B J E C T S.
TOM AE C E N A S.
O NV I R T U E.
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN NEW-ENGLAND.
TO THE KING’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. 1768.
ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA.
ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. DR. SEWELL, 1769.
ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. MR. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 1770.
ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY OF FIVE YEARS OF AGE.
ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN.
TO A LADY ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND.
G O L I A T HO FG A T H.
THOUGHTS ON THE WORKS OF PROVIDENCE.
TO A LADY ON THE DEATH OF THREE RELATIONS.
TO A CLERGYMAN ON THE DEATH OF HIS LADY.
AN HYMN TO THE MORNING
AN HYMN TO THE EVENING.
ISAIAH lxiii. 1-8.
ON RECOLLECTION.
ON IMAGINATION.
A FUNERAL POEM ON THE DEATH OF C. E. AN INFANT OF TWELVE MONTHS.
TO CAPTAIN H———D, OF THE 65TH REGIMENT.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM, EARL OF DARTMOUTH
O D ET ON E P T U N E.
TO A LADY ON HER COMING TO NORTH-AMERICA WITH HER SON, FOR THE RECOVERY OF HER HEALTH.
TO A LADY ON HER REMARKABLE PRESERVATION IN AN HURRICANE IN NORTH-CAROLINA.
TO A LADY AND HER CHILDREN, ON THE DEATH OF HER SON AND THEIR BROTHER.
TO A GENTLEMAN AND LADY ON THE DEATH OF THE LADY’S BROTHER AND SISTER, AND A CHILD OF THE NAME OF AVIS, AGED ONE YEAR.
ON THE DEATH OF DR. SAMUEL MARSHALL. 1771.
TO A GENTLEMAN ON HIS VOYAGE TO GREAT-BRITAIN FOR THE RECOVERY OF HIS HEALTH.
TO THE REV. DR. THOMAS AMORY, ON READING HIS SERMONS ON DAILY DEVOTION, IN WHICH THAT DUTY IS RECOMMENDED AND ASSISTED.
ON THE DEATH OF J. C. AN INFANT.
ANH Y M NTOH U M A N I T Y.TO S. P. G. ESQ;
TO THE HONOURABLE T. H. ESQ; ON THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER.
NIOBE IN DISTRESS FOR HER CHILDREN SLAIN BY APOLLO, FROM OVID’S METAMORPHOSES, BOOK VI. AND FROM A VIEW OF THE PAINTING OF MR. RICHARD WILSON.
TO S. M. A YOUNG AFRICAN PAINTER, ON SEEING HIS WORKS.
TO HIS HONOUR THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR, ON THE DEATH OF HIS LADY. MARCH 24, 1773.
A FAREWEL TO AMERICA. TO MRS. S. W.
A REBUS, BY I. B.
AN ANSWER TO THE REBUS, BY THE AUTHOR OF THESE POEMS.
PREFACE.
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THE following POEMS were written originally for the Amusement of the Author, as they were the Products of her leisure Moments. She had no Intention ever to have published them; nor would they now have made their Appearance, but at the Importunity of many of her best, and most generous Friends; to whom she considers herself, as under the greatest Obligations.
As her Attempts in Poetry are now sent into the World, it is hoped the Critic will not severely censure their Defects; and we presume they have too much Merit to be cast aside with Contempt, as worthless and trifling Effusions.
As to the Disadvantages she has laboured under, with Regard to Learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her Master’s Letter in the following Page will sufficiently show the Difficulties in this Respect she had to encounter.
With all their Imperfections, the Poems are now humbly submitted to the Perusal of the Public.
The following is a Copy of a LETTER sent by the Author’s Master to the Publisher.
PHILLIS was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between seven and eight Years of Age. Without any Assistance from School Education, and by only what she was taught in the Family, she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, to such a degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her WRITING, her own Curiosity led her to it; and this she learnt in so short a Time, that in the Year 1765, she wrote a Letter to the Rev. Mr. OCCOM, the Indian Minister, while in England.
She has a great Inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and has made some Progress in it. This Relation is given by her Master who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
JOHN WHEATLEY.
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Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.
TO THE PUBLIC.
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AS it has been repeatedly suggested to the Publisher, by Persons, who have seen the Manuscript, that Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original.
WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the POEMS specified in the following Page,* were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them.
His Excellency THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Governor.
The Hon. ANDREW OLIVER, Lieutenant-Governor.
The Hon. Thomas Hubbard, | The Rev. Charles Chauncey, D. D.
The Hon. John Erving, | The Rev. Mather Byles, D. D.
The Hon. James Pitts, | The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D. D.
The Hon. Harrison Gray, | The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D. D.
The Hon. James Bowdoin, | The Rev. Samuel Cooper, D. D.
John Hancock, Esq; | The Rev. Mr. Saumel Mather,
Joseph Green, Esq; | The Rev. Mr. John Moorhead,
Richard Carey, Esq; | Mr. John Wheat ey, her Master.
N. B. The original Attestation, signed by the above Gentlemen,
may be seen by applying to Archibald Bell, Bookseller,
No. 8, Aldgate-Street.
_________________________________________________________
*The Words “following Page,” allude to the Contents
of the Manuscript Copy, which are wrote at the
Back of the above Attestation.
P O E M S
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O N
V A R I O U SS U B J E C T S.
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TOM AE C E N A S.
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MAECENAS, you, beneath the myrtle shade,
Read o’er what poets sung, and shepherds play’d.
What felt those poets but you feel the same?
Does not your soul possess the sacred flame?
Their noble strains your equal genius shares
In softer language, and diviner airs.
While Homer paints, lo! circumfus’d in air,
Celestial Gods in mortal forms appear;
Swift as they move hear each recess rebound,
Heav’n quakes, earth trembles, and the shores resound.
Great Sire of verse, before my mortal eyes,
The lightnings blaze across the vaulted skies,
And, as the thunder shakes the heav’nly plains,
A deep felt horror thrills through all my veins.
When gentler strains demand thy graceful song,
The length’ning line moves languishing along.
When great Patroclus courts Achilles’ aid,
The grateful tribute of my tears is paid;
Prone on the shore he feels the pangs of love,
And stern Pelides tend’rest passions move.
Great Maro’s strain in heav’nly numbers flows,
The Nine inspire, and all the bosom glows.
O could I rival thine and Virgil’s page,
Or claim the Muses with the Mantuan Sage;
Soon the same beauties should my mind adorn,
And the same ardors in my soul should burn:
Then should my song in bolder notes arise,
And all my numbers pleasingly surprise;
But here I sit, and mourn a grov’ling mind,
That fain would mount, and ride upon the wind.
Not you, my friend, these plaintive strains become,
Not you, whose bosom is the Muses home;
When they from tow’ring Helicon retire,
They fan in you the bright immortal fire,
But I less happy, cannot raise the song,
The fault’ring music dies upon my tongue.
The happier Terence* all the choir inspir’d,
His soul replenish’d, and his bosom fir’d;
But say, ye Muses, why this partial grace,
To one alone of Afric’s sable race;
From age to age transmitting thus his name
With the finest glory in the rolls of fame?
Thy virtues, great Maecenas! shall be sung
In praise of him, from whom those virtues sprung:
While blooming wreaths around thy temples spread,
I’ll snatch a laurel from thine honour’d head,
While you indulgent smile upon the deed.
*He was an African by birth.
As long as Thames in streams majestic flows,
Or Naiads in their oozy beds repose
While Phoebus reigns above the starry train
While bright Aurora purples o’er the main,
So long, great Sir, the muse thy praise shall sing,
So long thy praise shal’ make Parnassus ring:
Then grant, Maecenas, thy paternal rays,
Hear me propitious, and defend my lays.
O NV I R T U E.
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O Thou bright jewel in my aim I strive
To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare
Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach.
I cease to wonder, and no more attempt
