Sotheby's musings

Special Collections: de Beer Ec/1794/S

London : printed by J. Smeeton, for R. Blamire

Sotheby's youthful poems eagerly evoke the picturesque, and the engravings added to this second edition only heighten that sensibility. An evocation such as 'Hail, solemn wreck!' (10) does not connote praise, and the beauty of the moonlit ruin proves a refreshing tonic only to the traveller who can leave behind the dilapidation evident by daylight:

the musing mind
Oft 'mid the pensive pleasures that attend
The close of day, with many a mournful thought
Opprest, sad dwells on life's swift passing scene,
And dreams of bliss delusive. . . . (11-12)

Smith, John, 1749-1831

Smeeton, Joseph, -1809

A tour through parts of Wales, Sonnets, odes, and other poems. With engravings from drawings taken on the spot, by J. Smith. By W. Sotheby, Esq.

1794

De Beer Collection copy bound with: The hermit of Warkworth. 1806.