Mira's Will
Mira's Will
Original Text
Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire, Poems upon Several Occasions (London: J. Roberts, 1748), pp. 8-10. B-11 5553 Fisher Library.
2To Heav'n -- My Body to the silent Dust;
3My Name to publick Censure I submit,
4To be dispos'd of as the World thinks fit;
5My Vice and Folly let Oblivion close,
6The World already is o'erstock'd with those;
7My Wit I give, as Misers give their Store,
8To those who think they had enough before.
9Bestow my Patience to compose the Lives
10Of slighted Virgins and neglected Wives;
12My cool Reflexion to unthinking Youth;
13And some Good-nature give ('tis my Desire)
14To surly Husbands, as their Needs require;
15And first discharge my Funeral -- and then
16To the small Poets I bequeath my Pen.
17 Let a small Sprig (true Emblem of my Rhyme)
18Of blasted Laurel on my Hearse recline;
20By chanting Dirges through a Market-Town,
21With gentle Step precede the solemn Train;
22A broken Flute upon his Arm shall lean.
23Six comick Poets may the Corse surround,
24And All Free-holders, if they can be found:
25Then follow next the melancholy Throng,
26As shrewd Instructors, who themselves are wrong.
27The Virtuoso, rich in Sun-dry'd Weeds,
28The Politician, whom no Mortal heeds,
29The silent Lawyer, chamber'd all the Day,
30And the stern Soldier that receives no Pay.
31But stay -- the Mourners shou'd be first our Care,
32Let the freed Prentice lead the Miser's Heir;
34And widow'd Husbands o'er their Garlick cry.
35 All this let my Executors fulfil,
36And rest assur'd that this is Mira's Will,
37Who was, when she these Legacies design'd,
38In Body healthy, and compos'd in Mind.
Notes
1] IMPRIMUS: First. Back to Line
11] Truth: faithfulness. Back to Line
19] Wight: person. Back to Line
33] Relict: widow. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1748
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Form