Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

by Phillis Wheatley

Published according to Act of Parliament, Sept.^r 1. 1773 by Arch.^d Bell Bookseller N^o.8 near the Saracens Head Aldgate.

POEMS

ON

VARIOUS SUBJECTS,

RELIGIOUS AND MORAL.

BY

PHILLIS WHEATLEY,

Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England.

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LONDON:

Printed for A. Bell, Bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, BOSTON.

MDCCLXXIII.

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Entered at Stationers Hall.

 

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DEDICATION.

To the Right Honourable the

COUNTESS of HUNTINGDON,

THE FOLLOWING

POEMS

Are most respectfully

Inscribed,

By her much obliged,

Very humble,

And devoted Servant,

Phillis Wheatley.

Boston, June 12,

1773.

PREFACE.

The following Poems were written originally for the Amusement of the Author, as they were the Products of her leisure Moments. She had no Intention ever to have published them; nor would they now have made their Appearance, but at the Importunity of many of her best, and most generous Friends; to whom she considers herself, as under the greatest Obligations.

As her Attempts in Poetry are now sent into the World, it is hoped the Critic will not severely censure their Defects; and we presume they have too much Merit to be cast aside with Contempt, as worthless and trifling Effusions.

As to the Disadvantages she has laboured under, with Regard to Learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her Master's Letter in the following Page will sufficiently shew the Difficulties in this Respect she had to encounter.

With all their Imperfections, the Poems are now humbly submitted to the Perusal of the Public.

The following is a Copy of a Letter sent by the Author's Master to the Publisher.

Phillis was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between Seven and Eight Years of Age. Without any Assistance from School Education, and by only what she was taught in the Family, she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English Language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, to such a Degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.

As to her Writing, her own Curiosity led her to it, and this she learnt in so short a Time, that in the Year 1765, she wrote a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Occom, the Indian Minister, while in England.

She has a great Inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and has made some Progress in it. This Relation is given by her Master who bought her, and with whom she now lives.

JOHN WHEATLEY.

Boston, Nov 14, 1772.

To the PUBLICK.

As it has been repeatedly suggested to the Publisher, by Persons, who have seen the Manuscript, that Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original.

WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems specified in the following Page,^[1] were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them.

His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor,

The Hon. Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor.

The Hon. Thomas Hubbard,

The Hon. John Erving,

The Hon. James Pitts,

The Hon. Harrison Gray,

The Hon. James Bowdoin,

John Hancock, Esq;

Joseph Green, Esq;

Richard Carey, Esq;

The Rev. Charles Chauncy, D.D.

The Rev. Mather Byles, D.D.

The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D.D.

The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D.D.

The Rev. Samuel Cooper, D.D.

The Rev. Mr. Samuel Mather,

The Rev. Mr. John Moorhead,

Mr. John Wheatley, her Master.

N.B. The original Attestation, signed by the above Gentlemen, may be seen by applying to Archibald Bell, Bookseller, No. 8, Aldgate-Street.

CONTENTS.

	Page
To Mæcenas	9
On Virtue	13
To the University of Cambridge, in New-England	15
To the King's Most Excellent Majesty	17
On being brought from Africa	18
On the Rev. Dr. Sewell	19
On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield	22
On the Death of a young Lady of five Years of Age	25
On the Death of a young Gentleman	27
To a Lady on the Death of her Husband	29
Goliath of Gath	31
Thoughts on the Works of Providence	43
To a Lady on the Death of three Relations	51
To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady	53
An Hymn to the Morning	56
An Hymn to the Evening	58
On Isaiah lxiii. 1–8	60
On Recollection	62
On Imagination	65
A Funeral Poem on the Death of an Infant aged twelve Months	69
To Captain H. D. of the 65th Regiment	72
To the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth	73
Ode to Neptune	76
To a Lady on her coming to North America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health	78
To a Lady on her remarkable Preservation in a Hurricane in North Carolina	80
To a Lady and her Children on the Death of her Son, and their Brother	82
To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name of Avis, aged one Year	84
On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marshall	86
To a Gentleman on his Voyage to Great-Britain, for the Recovery of his Health	88
To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, in which that Duty is recommended and assisted	90
On the Death of J. C. an Infant	92
An Hymn to Humanity	95
To the Hon. T. H. Esq; on the Death of his Daughter	98
Niobe in Distress for her Children slain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI. and from a View of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson	101
To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works	114
To his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his Lady	116
A Farewel to America	119
A Rebus by I. B.	123
An Answer to ditto, by Phillis Wheatley	124

1. The Words "following Page," allude to the Contents of the Manuscript Copy, which are wrote at the Back of the above Attestation.