On the Christening of a Friend’s Child
1 viewer
On the Christening of a Friend’s Child Lyrics
This day among the faithful plac'd
 And fed with fontal manna,
O with maternal title grac'd,
 Dear Anna's dearest Anna!
While others wish thee wise and fair,
 A maid of spotless fame,
I'll breathe this more compendious prayer—
 May'st thou deserve thy name!
Thy mother's name, a potent spell,
 That bids the Virtues hie
From mystic grove and living cell,
 Confess'd to Fancy's eye;
Meek Quietness without offence;
 Content in homespun kirtle;
True Love; and True Love's Innocence,
 White Blossom of the Myrtle!
Associates of thy name, sweet Child!
 These Virtues may'st thou win;
With face as eloquently mild
 To say, they lodge within.
So, when her tale of days all flown,
 Thy mother shall be miss'd here;
When Heaven at length shall claim its own
 And Angels snatch their Sister;
 And fed with fontal manna,
O with maternal title grac'd,
 Dear Anna's dearest Anna!
While others wish thee wise and fair,
 A maid of spotless fame,
I'll breathe this more compendious prayer—
 May'st thou deserve thy name!
Thy mother's name, a potent spell,
 That bids the Virtues hie
From mystic grove and living cell,
 Confess'd to Fancy's eye;
Meek Quietness without offence;
 Content in homespun kirtle;
True Love; and True Love's Innocence,
 White Blossom of the Myrtle!
Associates of thy name, sweet Child!
 These Virtues may'st thou win;
With face as eloquently mild
 To say, they lodge within.
So, when her tale of days all flown,
 Thy mother shall be miss'd here;
When Heaven at length shall claim its own
 And Angels snatch their Sister;
Some hoary-headed friend, perchance,
 May gaze with stifled breath;
And oft, in momentary trance,
 Forget the waste of death.
Even thus a lovely rose I've view'd
 In summer-swelling pride;
Nor mark'd the bud, that green and rude
 Peep'd at the rose's side.
It chanc'd I pass'd again that way
 In Autumn's latest hour,
And wond'ring saw the selfsame spray
 Rich with the selfsame flower.
Ah fond deceit! the rude green bud
 Alike in shape, place, name,
Had bloom'd where bloom'd its parent stud,
 Another and the same!
 May gaze with stifled breath;
And oft, in momentary trance,
 Forget the waste of death.
Even thus a lovely rose I've view'd
 In summer-swelling pride;
Nor mark'd the bud, that green and rude
 Peep'd at the rose's side.
It chanc'd I pass'd again that way
 In Autumn's latest hour,
And wond'ring saw the selfsame spray
 Rich with the selfsame flower.
Ah fond deceit! the rude green bud
 Alike in shape, place, name,
Had bloom'd where bloom'd its parent stud,
 Another and the same!
About
Have the inside scoop on this song?
Sign up and drop some knowledge
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 2.Dura Navis
- 6.Julia
- 8.The Nose
- 9.To the Muse
- 11.Life
- 12.Progress of Vice
- 14.An Invocation
- 15.Anna and Harland
- 17.Pain
- 20.Genevieve
- 24.Honour
- 25.On Imitation
- 26.Inside the Coach
- 27.Devonshire Roads
- 28.Music
- 30.Absence
- 31.Happiness
- 32.A Wish
- 36.Ode
- 43.The Rose
- 44.Kisses
- 45.The Gentle Look
- 49.To Fortune
- 50.Perspiration
- 51.Ave, Atque Vale!
- 52.On Bala Hill
- 57.To Lesbia
- 61.The Sigh
- 62.The Kiss
- 63.To a Young Lady
- 65.To Miss Brunton
- 67.Pantisocracy
- 69.Elegy
- 70.The Faded Flower
- 71.The Outcast
- 72.Domestic Peace
- 75.To a Young Ass
- 80.Burke
- 81.Priestley
- 82.La Fayette
- 83.Koskiusko
- 84.Pitt
- 86.Mrs. Siddons
- 90.To Lord Stanhope
- 91.To Earl Stanhope
- 93.To an Infant
- 95.Pity
- 100.The Eolian Harp
- 102.The Silver Thimble
- 104.Religious Musings
- 109.Verses
- 123.On the Christening of a Friend’s Child
- 126.The Dungeon
- 129.Christabel
- 130.Lines to W. L.
- 132.Frost at Midnight
- 133.France: An Ode.
- 137.Fears in Solitude
- 138.The Three Graves
- 140.To ——
- 143.Hexameters
- 148.On a Cataract
- 149.Tell’s Birth-Place
- 151.From the German
- 152.Water Ballad
- 158.Names
- 159.The Devil’s Thoughts
- 161.Westphalian Song
- 163.Hymn to the Earth
- 164.Mahomet
- 166.A Christmas Carol
- 169.The Keepsake
- 171.The Mad Monk
- 173.A Stranger Minstrel
- 174.Alcaeus to Sappho
- 176.The Snow-drop.
- 178.Ode to Tranquillity
- 179.To Asra
- 180.The Second Birth
- 181.Love’s Sanctuary
- 185.The Good, Great Man
- 187.An Ode to the Rain
- 188.A Day-dream
- 191.The Pains of Sleep
- 192.The Exchange
- 193.Ad Vilmum Axiologum
- 194.An Exile
- 195.Sonnet
- 196.Phantom
- 197.A Sunset
- 198.What is Life
- 200.Separation
- 201.The Rash Conjurer
- 204.Farewell to Love
- 206.An Angel Visitant
- 208.To Two Sisters
- 209.Psyche
- 210.A Tombless Epitaph
- 211.For a Market-clock
- 213.The Visionary Hope
- 221.The Night-scene
- 222.A Hymn
- 225.Song. From Zapolya
- 228.To Nature
- 229.Limbo
- 230.Ne Plus Ultra
- 231.The Knight’s Tomb
- 232.On Donne’s Poetry
- 233.Israel’s Lament
- 236.Youth and Age
- 238.First Advent of Love
- 242.Song
- 243.A Character
- 244.The Two Founts
- 248.Homeless
- 252.To Mary Pridham
- 254.Love’s Burial-place
- 256.Cologne
- 260.To Miss A. T.
- 264.Not at Home
- 266.Desire
- 267.Charity in Thought
- 269.[Coeli Enarrant.]
- 270.Reason
- 271.Self-knowledge
- 272.Forbearance
- 276.Epitaph
Comments