Impromptu to the Basket sent to Miss Steele

Little Trifle haste away,

Nor thy destin’d flight delay,

Lest I rend thy feeble frame,

Or consign Thee to the flame:

Far more beauteous charms than thine,

Should adorn fair Sylvia’s Shrine.

Gifts by all the Graces plann’d,

Only ought to meet her hand,

Of Materials bright, and rare,

Rang’d with elegance, and care;

Nature should new stores unfold,

Brighter than her Pearl and Gold;

Art should search for new supplies,

Beamy Tints, and glowing dyes,

Gifts where genuine haste might pry

Only ought to meet her eye.

But for Thee no Grace would care, )

Nor regard my humble Pray’r, )

In thy form to take a share; )

They were winging wide their way,

Nor one moment deign’d to stay

Tho’ no Nymph more loves their aid,

When at Friendship’s Shrine display’d.

Sylphs just wisper, on they rove,

O’er each Hill to Broughton Grove,

Where with Kindred Sisters three,

There they’ll dwell in harmony.

Little Trifle haste away,

Nor thy destin’d course delay,

Lest I rend thy feeble frame,

Or consign thee to the Flame.

Should ^the^ wispering Sylph speak true,

Thou thy mournful fate may’st rue,

If I send thee as thou art,

Unadorned in every part

Sink thou must, unform’d to bear,

Critiques from six graces there.

Little trifle hast away,

Nor thy destin’d flight delay;

If I know my Sylvia’s heart,

Transient Bliss thou may’st impart,

While though mean, on thee I send

The Insignia of a Friend.

Eliza

Text: STE 5/8; also 5/4 (in an unknown hand); also Whelan, Nonconformist Women Writers, vol. 4, pp. 230-31. Poem is addressed to Mary Steele ("Sylvia"). Reference below to the ‘three sisters’ living at Broughton dates the poem prior to Anne Steele’s marriage to Joseph Tomkins in December 1791.