The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero)/Poetry/Volume 7/Epigram on an Old Lady who had some Curious Notions respecting the Soul
For works with similar titles, see Epigram and Epigram (Byron).
JEUX D'ESPRIT AND MINOR POEMS, 1798–1824.
EPIGRAM ON AN OLD LADY WHO HAD SOME CURIOUS NOTIONS RESPECTING THE SOUL.
In Nottingham county there lives at Swan Green,[1]
As curst an old Lady as ever was seen;
And when she does die, which I hope will be soon,
She firmly believes she will go to the Moon!
1798.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, i. 28.]
- ↑ ["Swan Green" should be "Swine Green." It lay about a quarter of a mile to the east of St. James's Lane, where Byron lodged in 1799, at the house of a Mr. Gill. The name appears in a directory of 1799, but by 1815 it had been expunged or changed euphoniæ gratiâ. (See A New Plan of the Town of Nottingham,... 1744.) Moore took down "these rhymes" from the lips of Byron's nurse, May Gray, who regarded them as a first essay in the direction of poetry. He questioned their originality.]