The Acid Sisters : and Other Poems
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Ai A; 3 7 3 7 4 7 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES WORKS OF Thomas Wright Principal of Cowper School, Olney, Bucks. History, Biography and Fiction. 3sLl.e, 20,000. JM —— — — — — pages. Handsomely 1. The Life of William COWpeP. [^2 ______^____^^_^^___^____^________ bouufl. 21 illustrations, IM G. Edition-dt-Luxo, a magniticeiit voluini-, in parchment and gold, 21/- The standard biography of Cowper Daily News. Mr. Wright's Co-W'- per puts all former lives of the poet in the shade. Saturday Rex'ieici. Mr. Wright has discovered " what may be described as the central incident of the P'let's life." This incident was a dream TTie Times. 2. The Life of Daniel Defoe. 482pages. Handsom.ly bound iu ^^_-_————___——^._ dark green and gold, with 27 illustrations, 21/-. Mr. Wright's latest work is a monument of industry and research, and his style is as breezy, healthy, and sturdy', as Defoe's own. Glasgow Herald. The most interesting book of the season The Sketch. 3. The Life of Charles Diekens. (Preparingforpubiieation) -^—^^^-^^—-^—^^——^————^^.^ A great mass of entirely new material has been placed in Mr. Wright's hands for embodiment in this work. 4. The Town of Cowper. ^nd edition, n illustrations, s/e. A deliglitful volume Leisure' Hour. A model volume Pall Mall Gazette. Mr. AV'right's pleasant mflange ol antiquities and histoi-y. Sat- urday Review. A delightful volume Daily Ne^vs. 5. Tupvey and Legh Richmond. 2nd edition. Price i/e & -^—^^— 2/-. .^_^^—^.^— ^^^—^—^^—^— With frontispiece : Turvey Church. By Rkv. G. F. W. Muxby, Rector of Turvey; and Thom.^s Wright. 6. Olney and Dp. Carey. B«ng the unpublished letters of Dr. ^^^.^__i^^^^^^___^__^^_ Carey, the Missionary. Price 6/-. Exquisitely got up. Kl illustrations. The introduction is by Mr. Wri^lit, tlu' learned author of the latest life of the poet Cowper. Mr. Wright's nnint. is suHiriint ^;u.-iriiiitri> that the work is done thoroughly, with a real lit'Tui y tiuish. /\c-ii;'i7/r C 'hrt'//iele. 7. The MyStePy of St. DunStan'S. a Northamptonshire J______.^_^^^^^^_____^—^..^^^ story. Price 6'-, or in 2 vols., 10/6. Daniel Defoe is introduced as one of the characters. Mr. Wright, the accomplished historian of Olney, comes before us with a realistic 2,nd sensational story which fully justifies its t'tle. "The Mystery of St. Dunstan's," is an excellent and engrossiug talc, full of exciting incidents leading up to an unexpected denouement .— Atheticcutn. —— — 8. The Chalice of Garden. 2nd edition, price 3/6. a Buclnng- _^__^_______^__^_-^—^^^_ hamsMre and Bedfordsliire story in the tiiue ot the '45. A faithful studv of Buckinghamshire and its ways in tlie time of the '45 .>et forth in adum-able and attractive style, as we have a right to expect from 'he learned and accomplished author of "The Town of Cowper." Athen- cEU?n. As amusiB g as Piekvidck Liteiary Churchman. Northamptonshire story of the last 9. The Blue Firedrake. a witch burnt m England. 2nd edition, 3/6 A weird and thrilling tale of which the plot is well constructed, and the interest never for a moment flags Beds. Standard. a Buckinghamshire stoiT- Among 10.iv/. Thej..tv/ KnightA., O' the Post, a ____^^^ the characters are Lintot and Arbuthnot and Dean Swift. Price 3/6. Tonson, the famous booksellers ; Dr. ^^i^ ^n illustrations, Loved.^^-.^ Haunts of Cowper, 11.n. Thexim ^^^ ^^ newlv discov- meeting of Cowper and Newton in ered poem by Newton : The supposed Heaven. Price 1/6 and 2/-. Being an account of the lives of the Rev. \1.10 TVioIhe Irauntiettb.riaiintlpitt*; ^^^ b^ Ga,mtlett, vicar of Olney ; and his son Dr. Gauntlett, " The Father of Church I\Iusic." With 5 illustrations. Price 3/6 ™ce 2/-. with a most u\ji.i.t.i Newtonxi<.^ T. >/v>.. and his Wife. 13.10. John interesting and hitherto written at the Temple. unpublished poem by Cowper, ^ , ,„ „, Study ; His Tomb at Olney ; Olney Illustrations : Newton's Portrait ; His Church ; Olney Vicarage. Biographies, by various 14.\A. Thoine iLuenvaieTrifinvnlp aenesSfipifiS of Short ^^^^_^^^^ ^^ ^ ^, g spurgeon, Wright. No. bv Rev Dr. Duncan. No. 2, JOHN NEWTON, by Thomas 3, liEGH RICHMOND, by Rev. G. F. W. Munby & Thomas Wright. Illustrated 1/6 per dozen. By 15. Stories from the Elizabethan Dramatists. Mrs Thomas Wright. Price 2/-. These works should be ordered, by post, direct from the author, Thomas Wright, Olney, Bucks. ^ Extract from 44 THE STAR, " Sept. 21, 1894. MR. THOMAS WRIGHT, whose long promised biography of the aiUhor of " Robinson Crusoe," will certainly be one of the great books of the season, is a deliberate man. He began the researches for this work four or five years ago, and is now busily engaged upon a " Life of Charles Dickens," which he does not expect to comp ete within another three years. Thirty-five years ago, Mr. Wright was born in the house wherein he still resides, within a stone's throw of Cowper's House, at Olney. For seven or eight years he was a scholar and teacher at Buxton College, but sometimes confesses that he owes his literary aptitude mainly to the Saturday afternoons which he used to spend in the British Museum. He has already embodied some of his Defoe discoveries in a romance of the period, entitled " The Mystery of St. Dunstan's," and when the fact is stated that in the forthcoming work he makes effective use of the love letters of the immortal novelist's daughter Sophia, the public appetite will very properly be whetted. Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/acidsistersotlierOOwrig Mr. THOMAS WRIGHT, Principal of COWPER SCHOOL, Olney. Author of " The Life of William Cowper,^'' " The Life of Daniel Defoe,^' " The Mystery of St. Dunstan's" " The Town of Co7vper,'" " The Chalice of Garden," " The Blue Firedrake," " Turvey and Legh Richmond" ^'- Serampore Letters, (Olney and Dr. Carey the Mission- ary)," " The Life of Charles Dickens" (preparing for publication) , dr'c. ant) ottrr ^orms. V THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY KIND PERMISSION TO ALFRED AUSTIN, ESQ. THE POET LAUREATE. PREFACE. Of the poems that form the present Volume, some have already appeared in " The Sketch," "The Literary World," and other periodicals. My affection for the Literature of Ancient Greece and Rome has led me to place "The Lost Masterpieces" in the foreground; the longest poem, however, and the one that gives the name to the collection, is " The Acid Sisters," a mediaeval love story. For the sonnet on page SO I had the honour to be thanked by Her Majesty the Queen. The lines on page 85 owe their origin to the kindness of the Rev. J. P. Langley, who lent the slides referred to. It gives me great pleasure also to be able to express my indebtedness to Alfred Austin, Esq., the Poet Laureate, for so kindly allowing the work to be dedicated to him, and for interesting himself in a volume of verse emanating, to use his own expression, from a spot sanctified by the recollection of the pious breath of William Cowper. THOMAS WRIGHT. Cowper School, Olney. 2ij/ March, 1897. .. 1 CONTENTS. PAGE- The Lost Masterpieces. 1.—Literature . I IL—Painting : : 3 Subjects from English Literature. Cowper and Burns 7 The Man from Porlock . 8 Glorious John 8 When Joseph reigned at Button's 10 The Meeting of Coleridge and Keats . 1 The Reverend Lawrence Sterne 12 Erinna 13 TheTwoDefoes • H Pliny and Cowper • IS Goldsmith and Johnson at Temple Bar . 16 its . Each Fountain hath Deity • 17 To Herrick • 17 . 18 Crushing Wordsworth . 18 To Charles Dickens 18 To William Cowper 19 Banyan's Birthplace 19 . Vtll. CONTINTS. The Palace Beautifal 21 Elstow Green 22 Edward FitzGerald at Bedford . 23 Subjects from Ancient History. The Artifice of King Amasis . The Absurd Conduct of Hippoclides Pythius's IMillions It's very Sad Omphale . The Voice of Alaric It was Socrates . Alcibiades and the Schoolmaster The Demi-god . "Thou Woman's Property." Lucius Domitius . My Angry Gods . On a Recently-purchased Copy of Thucydides Praxinoe in Trouble Poems Relating to Olney and Vicinity. Born in Olney Newton in the Plantanes Weston Park A Singular Person Cowper's Poplar Field . Dr. Johnson at Easton Maudit . Written in Bow Brickhill Churchyard A Christmas Greeting . The Bookstall in the Derngate, At the Summer House . When Olney's under Snow . CONTENTS. i«. ISCELLANEOUS POEMS When Jesus Dwelt in Jewry . 48 Kings never Drown . 49 Let me be Alone . 50 The Beautiful Cufan • so Balzac's Penny . 51 Balzac and the Thief • 51 When a God desires to Ride . 52 Belief in One's Self • 52 Erasmus's Advice . 53 By Trying • 53 The Teaching of Epictetus 53 at Calais Football • 54 Said What Death • 55 with . The Year begins Yellow . 56 • 57 I can wait • 57 INIind Make up your . 58 Duhesme at Pescara . 58 The Trees are Changing Colour • 58 Early Morning • 59 The Tyranny of Print 60 The Quarrel for Mother 61 The Friar and the Shoes . 64 Matrimony . 6s Never be Satisfied with Anything at Alk 65 Breaking up Song 66 Plunge in the Dark 68 Saint Defoe . 69 Poems from my Novels. The Wells 71 . X. CONTENTS. At Lintot's on the Ice My Love a Book, St. Dunstan " At " The Folly The Corncrake Apple Time Poems Addressed to Friends A Welcome to Canon Benham To Mr. Hughes . The Marriage of Miss Hughes To Philip To Christabel Poems Written for my Scholars.