Steele Papers 04 Poetry 3 [47-57]

47. Volume of Verses

Volume of 64 verses and dialogues in Anne Steele's hand (112 pp). Many refer to family and friends by pseudonyms: Silviana (Anne Steele), Amira (Anne Steele's half-sister Mary Wakeford), Mira (the author Mary Scott, later Taylor), Lucius (Philip Furneaux), Lysander (John Lavington), Philander (Anne Steele's brother William [junior])—

p. 1 Reviewing my verses for publication (“As o'er the various page I bend”);

p. 3 “In a dirty cold village”;

p. 5 To — (“I'll tell you if I can in rhyme”);

p. 8 (“Thus in a careless hour”);

p. 10 To Melinda (“From driving rattling up and down”);

p. 13 “So charming her features”;

p. 14 To Solitary with Answer and Reply (“Lemira in her lonely cell”);

p. 17 On the death of an old apple tree (“Thee I invoke O Goddess fam'd”);

p. 20 Silviana, Amira, Lucius [dialogue] (S: The melancholy passing bell; A: The gentle Muse from Lucius run away; S: You bid me write the Muse a letter; S: Lucius commanded by Chagrin; L: The Lamp, a Simile (The Vestal Nun in ancient days); S: To tune my lyre I sought in vain);

p. 25 A Dialogue: Amira, Lucius, Sylviana (A: Sylviana, Lucius, it is in vain; L: No more let Amira of dullness complain; A: Though those who are wise their own folly discern; L: With rhetorick and logic let Amira go on; A: We shall make something out of this confabulation; L: How brittle the glory acquired by arms; A: As to forming conclusions in logical state; L: Hey day! See Amira, she rallies again; A: I knew I should conquer you from the beginning; S: If you love fighting stories I'll tell you a true one);

p. 38 A Dialogue (S: Ye happy kind mortals the married folks way; A: Ye happy free mortals the single folks way; S: We yet have the best on't, whate'er you can say; A: I submit to your power, I acknowledge your writing; S: At length dear Amira all jesting apart; A: Sincerely disclose the true sense of my heart; S: Amira his advocate Cupid will choose);

p. 45 (“As to filling up rhymes I don't know what to say”);

p. 46 Ancient old story turn'd and brush'd (“How will the wretched race of spiders moan”);

p. 47 Written on a chamber door (“In this abode if neatness keeps”);

p. 48 (“Timenious wiser far than all mankind”);

p. 49 (“Now view Melinda that majestic mien”);

p. 50 (“In Philo virtue, sense, good nature meet”);

p. 51 A dialogue (Were I to choose a mate, Myrtilla [Jane Attwater] cries; Says Sylvia gravely sure my dear you're ever wrong; Philander: Well this is charming);

p. 53 Silviana [marked “written again by mistake”] (“Lucius commanded by chagrin”);

p. 54 Silviana [marked "written again by mistake"] (“So tune my lyre”);

p. 55 “In lone apartment when I sit”;

p. 56 On being desired to send some verses to the “Gentleman's Magazine” (“In Urban Magazine to shine”); 

p. 57 (The wisest men may sometimes err);

p. 58 (“‘Twas yesterday in idle scuffle”);

p. 59 To Melinda (“I boast no charms”);

p. 60 (“Once more to your indulgent ear”);

p. 61 (“If you for verse have such a passion”);

p. 62 Amira to Silviana (“Should I try to make verses”);

p.63 Silviana to Amira (“Yes you have convinc'd me”);

p. 65 To Miss Lacey on receiving a Ruff from her (“In good Queen Bess's days of yore”);

p. 67 On Amira's reading Grandison in the absence of Portius (“The live-long day tho' some folks say”);

p. 69 (“Portius has faults I can't deny”);

p. 70 Epitaph on a favourite dog (“Here Rover lies, a dog of fame”);

p. 71 (“Portius presents a shade”);

p.72 To Delia (“On dark Oblivion's gloomy coast”);

p. 73 On Pope's Essay on Criticism: To Lysander (“Well skill'd the Bard in every critic art”);

p. 74 —ingham Fair (“While then you are blest”);

p. 76 Invitation to Amira (“If rural simplicity nature and ease”);

p. 78 A new simile for the Ladies (“I've often toy'd in vain”);

p. 83 A Simile (“What since he owns 'tis not to mend”);

p. 84 Epitaph on a cork (“Here lies entomb'd a cork of Spirit”);

p. 85 (“When darkest clouds o'erspread the skies”);

p. 88 (“By Portius’ hand the work I've done”);

p. 89 By Mr Lavington [Presbyterian minister at Exeter], on visiting Broughton with Dr Furneaux [Congregationalist minister at Clapham] (“Our time, O ye Muses, how happily spent”);

p. 90 Reply (“How dully the time O ye Muses was spent”); and further down this page is the verse (“How unlucky was I”) that refers to Lysander and Lucius and suggests that Lysander was Lavington and Lucius was Furneaux [see STE 3/17, which also suggests that Lavington was Lysander]

p. 91 The sentence of the High Court of Critics at Andover (“Our books are the standard of goodness and sense”);

p. 92 (“Are love and Friendship both an empty name”);

p. 93 “The mutual wish the mutual hopes arise”, and “Fond love approach'd in Friendship's gentle guise”;

p. 94 “When love instead of gold shall purchase land”, and “May you be happy in Eliza's love”;

p. 95 “The many long days I wou'd count”;

p. 97 “To convince you dear Nan”;

p. 99 “Shew me the mind where an alloy is seen”;

p. 100 “Ah where are the once pleasing senses”;

p. 101 “Happy the maid who scorns”, and “The faults and follies of the friend we love”;

p. 102 “Don't tell me of patience”;

p. 103 “Above the puny softness of her sex”;

p. 104 “I sometimes have a rhyming fit”;

p. 105 On Amira calling the Muses Old Maids (“Old Maids indeed, Amira you are wrong”);

p. 106 “Your matchless rhymes”;

p. 110 Enigma (“From ancient stock my high descent”);

p. 112 Enigma(“No longer let kings or heroes fight”).

48. Verses, Mostly Published
Packet of 61 verses in Anne Steele's hand (118 pp.), most of which were published in Theodosia, “Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional” (1780), vols 1 and 2. Not published: p. 13 On being desired to write on the death of Dr [Isaac] Watts (“O could I write like Watts”); p. 25 On Dr [Edward] Young's Night Thoughts (“Surprizing thought!”); p. 26 A Prospect of Life (“Life is a mazy wild”); p. 32 On the repeated shocks of an earthquake 1749 (“From heaven are these tremorous warnings sent”); p. 34 To a friend on his marriage 1743 (“May the kind Providence”); p. 36 To Amira [Mary Steele Wakeford] (“Amira's happiness”); p. 45 To Mira (“The gifts indulgent heaven made”); p. 71 To the young and thoughtless (“Ye thoughtless young”); p. 83 A thankful acknowledgement of divine goodness in preservation from danger (“Lord of my life”); p. 90 The frailty of the mind (“Oft has my akeing heart”); p. 97 Behold I will engrave: Zachariah iii, part of 9th verse (“Almighty works!”). Unchecked at end: pp. 99–100 The Wish (“Should lavish Wealth display her shining stores”); pp. 101–102 Divine Contemplation (“How blest the Minds which daily rise”); pp. 103–104 Refuge in distress (“In a frail shatter’d Bark I trembling ride”); pp. 105–108 Hope reviving in the contemplation of Divine Mercy (“My God my Life, thou Spring of every Good”) [in margin at l. 2 a cross and “Leave out this page”]; loose between 106 & 107, 2/3 of full pages, are another 18 lines, with same heading of Hope reviving in the contemplation of Divine Mercy (“Ye restless, dark, distressing fears begone”); pp. 109–114 The Complaint and Relief (“When pensive thought recalls the scenes of Life”); pp. 115–118 The Elevation (“While I survey the azure sky”).
49. Verses, Mostly Published
10 manuscript verses in Anne Steele's hand, most of which were published in Theodosia, “Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional” (1780), vol. 1. Not published: (6) To Amira [Mary Steele, later Wakeford] (“New friendship wakes”).
50. Verses, Mostly Published
11 manuscript poems in Anne Steele's hand, most of which were printed in Theodosia, “Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional” (1780), vol. 2. Not published: [sheet 1] A reflection on the earthquake at Lisbon Nov. 1755 (“Hark 'tis the voice”); [sheet 11] On the sickness of a friend (“Shall I fond expectation”).
51. Verses, Mostly Published
24 manuscript poems in Anne Steele's and William Steele's hands, most of which were printed in Theodosia, “Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional” (1780), vol. 3. Many refer to family and friends by pseudonyms: Sylviana (Anne Steele), Amira (Anne Steele's half-sister Mary Wakeford), Philander (Anne Steele's brother William), Silvia (Anne Steele's niece Mary (“Polly”) Steele Dunscombe).… 52. Verses, Mostly Unpublished
45 miscellaneous and draft verses by Anne Steele. A few were published in Theodosia, “Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional” (1780), vol. 2, but most are unpublished and rarely dated.
53. The Miser Convinced of His Mistake
The miser convinced of his mistake (“Ah poor Aviro!”): not published. [Not in Anne Steele’s hand, and endorsed as a letter addressed “to Miss Anne Steele att Mr George Bullock in Yeovil”.]

54. Of Frustrate Hopes

“Of frustrate hopes”: not published. [Not in Anne Steele’s hand and endorsed as a letter addressed to “Miss Steele at Mr William Steele's at Broughton. Free[post]. Beaufort”.]

55. Epitaph on a Goldfinch Killed by a Cat

Epitaph on a goldfinch killed by a cat (“By Pusses unrelenting paws”): not published. [Written on the back of a letter addressed “To Mr William Steele, timber merchant, Broughton”.]

56. Loose Verses

21 verses and fragments of verse by Anne Steele, found loose between the pages of STE 3/3/1. A few are dated (1748, 1757); several refer to family and friends by pseudonyms: Sylviana (Anne Steele), Amira (Anne Steele's half-sister Mary Wakeford), Lucius (Philip Furneaux), Philo (Philander, Anne Steele's brother William), Myrtilla (Jane Attwater). Addressed to Myrtilla “A good estate”, addressed to Myrtilla [Jane Attwater]. [Not in Anne Steele's hand, written on the back of a fragment of a letter to William Steele [senior], timber merchant, 2 July 1757.]

57. William Steele Transcripts of Anne Steele Verses

5 poems by Anne Steele transcribed by William Steele. All but two were published in Theodosia, “Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional” (1780), vols 1 and 3, but one (To Amira on her marriage) must date from 1749, and another (Ode to Spring) is dated 1762. Not published: (2) To Amira (“Amira's happiness employs my care"); (3) The pleasures of spring ("Now reigns the lovely Spring").