Poem by Anna Seward

Sonnet 78. Sophia tempts me to her social walls

Sophia tempts me to her social walls,
    That 'mid the vast Metropolis arise,
    Where Splendor dazzles, and each Pleasure vies
    In soft allurement; and each Science calls
To philosophic Domes, harmonious Halls,
    And [1]storied Galleries. With duteous sighs,
    Filial and kind, and with averted eyes,
    I meet the gay temptation, as it falls
From a seducing pen.—Here—here I stay,
    Fix'd by Affection's power; nor entertain
    One latent wish, that might persuade to stray
From my ag'd Nurseling, in his life's dim wane;
    But, like the needle, by the magnet's sway,
    My constant, trembling residence maintain.

1. “And storied windows richly dight.”—Il Penseroso. 

1. Sonnet 7. By Derwent's rapid stream as oft I stray'd
2. Sonnet 1. When Life's realities the Soul perceives
3. Sonnet 31. O, EVER DEAR! thy precious, vital powers
4. Sonnet 58. Not the slow Hearse, where nod the sable plumes
5. Sonnet 44. Rapt Contemplation, bring thy waking dreams

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