1806 8
1806.8
Rosabell
A Ballad
John Mayne [1]
The Morning Chronicle (October 28, 1806)
The troops were all embark'd on board;
The ships were under weigh;
And loving wives, and maids ador'd,
Were weeping round the Bay.
They parted from their dearest friends,
From all their heart desires;
And ROSABELL to HEAV'N commends
The Man her soul admires!
For him she fled from soft repose;
Renounc'd a Parent's care;
He sails to crush his Country's foes—
She wanders in despair!
A Seraph, in an Infant's frame,
Reclin'd upon her arm;
And sorrow, in the comely Dame,
Now heighten'd every charm:
She thought, if Fortune had but smil'd—
She thought upon her Dear;
But when she look'd upon his child,
O! then ran many a tear!
"Ah! who will watch thee as thou sleep'st?
"Who'll sing a lullaby,
"Or rock thy cradle, when thou weep'st,
"If I shou'd chance to die!"
On board the ship, resign'd to Fate,
Yet planning joys to come,
Her love, in silent sorrow sate,
Upon a broken drum:
He saw her, lonely, on the beach;
He saw her on the strand;
And, far as human eye can reach,
He saw her wave her hand!
"O, ROSABELL! tho' forc'd to go,
"With thee my soul shall dwell;
"And HEAV'N, who pities human woe,
"Will comfort ROSABELL!"
August, 1806.
Notes
1. A Scottish poet, Mayne began his career as a printer in the office of the Dumfries Journal. He went to London in 1787 where he became proprietor and joint editor of TheStar. His long poem, Siller Gun, expanded over a period 1777-1836, was considered by Walter Scott to be superior to anything of Ferguson and close to Burns (Lady of the Lake, v. 20.).