A Question of Disputed Authorship - Craven or Carlisle?

In the anthology Poems on various subjects, edited by Thomas Tomkins in 1804, we find “A Prayer for Indifference” by Mrs Greville.[1]

Sweet airy being, wanton sprite,
That lurk'st in woods unseen,
And oft by Cynthia's silver light
Trip'st gaily o'er the green;

Oh! deign once more t'exert thy power;
Haply some herb or tree,
Sov’reign as juice of western flower,
Conceals a balm for me.

I ask no kind return of love,
No tempting charm to please:
Far from the heart those gifts remove,
That sighs for peace and ease.

Nor peace nor ease the heart can know,
Which, like the needle true,
Turns at the touch of joy or woe, -
But, turning, trembles too.

Far as distress the soul can wound,
'Tis pain in each degree:
'Tis bliss but to a certain bound;
Beyond, is agony.

Take then this treacherous sense of mine,
Which dooms me still to smart:
Which pleasure can to pain refine;
To pains new pangs impart.

Oh, haste to shed the sacred balm,
My shatter'd nerves new string;
And for my guest, Serenely calm,
The nymph Indifference bring.

At her approach, see Hope, see Fear,
See Expectation fly;
And Disappointment in the rear,
That blasts the promis'd joy.

The tear which Pity taught to flow,
The eye shall then disown;
The heart that melts for others woe
Shall then scarce feel its own.

The wounds which now each moment bleed,
Each moment then shall close,
And tranquil days shall still succeed
To nights of calm repose. –

O fairy elf! but grant me this,
This one kind comfort send;
And so may never-fading bliss
Thy dow’ry paths attend.

So may the glow-worm's glimmering light
Thy tiny footsteps lead
To some new region of delight,
Unknown to mortal tread.

And be thy acorn goblet fill'd
With heaven's ambrosial dew;
From sweetest, freshest flow’rs distill’d,
That shed fresh sweets for you.

And what of life remains for me
I'll pass in sober ease;
Half pleas'd, contented will I be,
Content but half to please.

It is prompted by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which the fairies supply love-charms. A reply to this poem follows and is attributed to Elizabeth Craven, under her later married name of Margravine of Anspach. [2]


THE FAIRY'S ANSWER.
BY THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH

WITHout preamble, to my friend
These hasty lines I'm bid to send,
Or give, if I am able;
I dare not hesitate to say—
Though I have trembled all the day,
It looks so like a fable

Last night's adventure is my theme;
And should it strike you as a dream,
Yet soon its high import
Must make you own the matter such,
So delicate, it were too much
To be compos'd in sport.

Fair Luna shone serenely bright,
And every star bedeck'd the night,
While Zephyr fann'd the trees:
No sound assail'd my mind's repose,
Save that yon stream, which murmuring flows,
Still echo'd to the breeze.

Enwrapt in solemn thoughts I sate,
Revolving o'er the turns of fate,
Yet void of hope or fear;
When lo! behold an airy throng,
With lightest steps, and jocund song,
Surpris'd my eye and ear.

A form superior to the rest -
His little voice to me addrest,
And gently thus began:
I’ve heard strange things from one of you,
Pray tell me if you think 'tis true;
Explain it if you can.

Such incense has perfum'd my throne,
Such eloquence my heart has won,
I think I guess the hand:
I know her wit and beauty too,
But why she sends a Prayer so new
I cannot understand.

To light some flames, and some revive,
To keep some others just alive,
Full oft I am implor’d:
But, with peculiar power to please,
To supplicate for nought but ease,—
'Tis odd upon my word!

Tell her, with fruitless care I've sought,
And though my realms, with wonders fraught, *
In remedies abound,
No grain of cold Indifference
Was ever yet ally’d to Sense,
In all my Fairy round.

The regions of the sky I’d trace,
I'd ransack every earthly place,
Each leaf, each herb, each flower,
To mitigate the pangs of Fear,
Dispel the clouds of black Despair,
Or lull the restless hour.

I would be generous as I’m just,
But I obey, as others must,
Those laws which Fate has made;
My tiny kingdom how defend, -
And what might be the horrid end,
Should man my state invade?

'Twould put your mind into a rage,
And such unequal war to wage
Suits not my regal duty:
I dare not change a first decree,
She's doom'd to please, nor can be free-
Such is the lot of beauty!"

This said, he darted o'er the plain,
And after follow'd all his train,
No glimpse of him I find;
But sure I am, the little sprite
These words, before he took his flight,
Imprinted on my mind.


It is, frankly, not a very good poem, and it does not resemble anything else that Elizabeth Craven ever wrote. But since it was included in this anthology during her own lifetime, we need a stronger reason to reject it. A close examination of its origins provides the reason we are looking for. 

Mrs Frances Greville, née Macartney (c.1724-89), is a poet included in Roger Lonsdale's Eighteenth Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology [3]. She married the Hon. Henry Greville (1717-84) then in 1748 eloped with Fulke Greville (1717-c.1805). She didn't have to get any new visiting cards printed as she was still Mrs Greville! Her daughter, Lady Crewe, was a famous Whig hostess, who knew Elizabeth well.

Professor Lonsdale writes that Greville's “Prayer for Indifference”, written c.1758, is the most celebrated poem by a woman in this period. He is not quite right to say the poem first appeared in print in 1781. In 1771, Mrs Greville's poem was printed in The London Magazine, under the title “Ode to Oberon” and said to be “addressed to Lady Carlisle”. [4] And the Reply poem appears in the same magazine, attributed to Lady Carlisle.]5]

Isabella Howard, Countess of Carlisle (1721 -1795), was the author of Maxims Addressed to Young Ladies on Their First Establishment in the World. She was the daughter of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron, and wife of Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle. She later married Sir William Musgrave, Bt. Despite the blood of the Byrons running in her veins, she really made no claims to be a poet, and these verses are possibly the only ones ever attributed to her.

When "The Fairy's Answer" was re-printed ten years later, in The Lady's Poetical Magazine [6] it was attributed to “The Countess of C-----"









I would hazard that this was the source that Thomas Tomkins used for his anthology of 1804. At that date, Elizabeth Craven was quite well-known as an author, and Lady Carlisle was not. Elizabeth Craven had never been a Countess, but it was a quite natural mistake to make as by 1804 her son, William, had been created Earl of Craven, a big step up from his father's barony. So those who knew she had been "Lady Craven" could quite easily suppose she was the "Countess of C-----" alluded to.

It is a fair conclusion then, that the attribution to Craven is a mistake, and Elizabeth probably never knew that the poem had been re-printed under her name.


To find out more about Elizabeth Craven, her life and her writings, read 

Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European by Julia Gasper


published by Vernon Press.








https://vernonpress.com/title?id=334
23 Jun 2017 - Elizabeth Craven's fascinating life was full of travel, love-affairs and scandals but this biography, the first to appear for a century, is the only one to focus on her as a writer...






[1] Poems on various subjects, Selected to Enforce the Practice of Virtue, and to Comprise in One Volume the Beauties of English Poetry, edited by E. Tomkins [or rather, T. Tomkins]. 
By Thomas Tomkins, London, B.& R. Crosby & Company, 1804, p.99.
[2] Ibid. p, 102.
[3] Roger Lonsdale, ed. Eighteenth Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology, OUP 1989.
[4] London Magazine vol 40 February 1771, p.105.
[5] Ibid. p.167,
[6] The Lady's Poetical Magazine: Or, Beauties of British Poetry, Volume 1 (1781) p.186.




archives.nypl.org -- Isabella Howard, Countess of Carlisle manuscript ...





archives.nypl.org/cps/23147







Isabella Howard (née Byron), Countess of Carlisle [other married name Musgrave], writer; she was the daughter of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron, and great ...

Isabella Howard, Countess of Carlisle | LibraryThing
https://www.librarything.com/author/carlislecountessofis

Isabella Howard, Countess of Carlisle (1721–1795). 

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