1805

Anna Beddoes to Davies Giddy, 22 Sept [1805] [1]

Is this not a pretty poem of Camoens [2]

–––––––

When day has smiled a soft farewell
And night drops bathe each shutting bell
And shadows sail along the green,
And birds are still, and winds serene,
                  I wander silently

And while my lone steps prints the dew,
Dear are the dreams that bless my view,
To Memory’s eye the maid appears,
For whom have sprung my sweetest tears
                  So oft, so tenderly:

I see her, as with graceful care
She binds her braids of sunny hair;
I feel her harp’s melodious thrill
Strike to my heart – and thence be still
                  Re-echo’d faithfully:

I meet her mild and quiet eye,
Drink the warm spirit of her sigh
See young Love beating in her breast,
And wish to mind its pulses prest!
                  God knows how fervently!

Such are the hours of dear delight
And morn but makes me long for night
And think how swift the minutes flew
When last amongst the dropping dew
                  I wander’d silently —

Address: Davies Giddy Esq M.P. / Tredrea / Marazion / Helston / Cornwall
Postmark: BRISTOL / SEP22/ 5 // 122 //MARAZION / 287

Notes

[1] The postmark is faint, but a ‘5’ is just legible. Giddy became an MP in May 1804.

[2] This poem was included in the Lord Viscount Strangford’s Poems from the Portuguese of Luis de Camoens: with remarks on his Life and Writings Notes &c (London, 1803, 2nd edn. 1804). Anna might also have seen it in one of the reviews of Strangford’s translation. It was printed in The Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1805, 62–63 and The British Critic, 23–24 (1804), 607. The layout and orthography of Anna’s transcription resembles that in The British Critic.