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[Page 3]
[Newspaper cutting]
For the LINCOLN, RUTLAND, and STAMFORD MERCURY.
On M A R Y R O S E,
A young girl about 16 or 17 years of age,
A prisoner in Lincoln city goal.
"When clust'ring clouds deform the sky,
And winter reigns in all her pride,
When biting winds with keen-edge fly,
And stop the river's ripling tide ;
O then ye truly good and great,
Ye Howards of old Lincoln town,
O think upon the prison-grate,
Where horror dwells with dismal frown.
II.
To chace light slumber far away,
The pearly morn that shines so bright,
Did beam around a double ray,
Upon the sable breast of night :
"T was then my wand'ring thoughts did bend,
To Lincoln prison, - dreary cell,
Where, weeks and months, without a friend,
A Rose, disteress'd, is forc'd to dwell.
III.
Alas, poor girl, thy lot is hard,
On straw to rest from year to year,*
The cheerful sun from thee is barr'd,
Thy only solace is a tear.
Thy prison-seat, a cold, damp stone,
Thy dwelling -place, a murky cave ;
Give me, Kind fate, a better home,
That place of rest, - a silent grave."
* She has been in this dungeon almost two years, for a petty offence.
Lincoln, Dec. 20th, 1788.