Early Poems by Thomas D'Arcy Morris
Early Poems
Bombay Courier, 22 May 1819.
‘To C—B—’ [1]
Bombay Gazette, 30 June 1819
THE OBSERVER No. XIV [2]
A certain Presidency, Mr. Observer, swarms with these unlicensed railers at Matrimony. A lecture from your pen might prove of service to them, by shewing their ill-natured propensity in its true light. I am a married man, and, since my arrival in India, I have seldom mixed in society without having my mind put into a state of irritability from the unvaried and constant allusion to the horrors of Wedlock, which is ever reviled as a state of strife and bondage. You must, I am sure, be well aware of the happiness and respectability of a married life, and will, I trust, point out the ill-nature, aye, and the ill-breeding of making it a handle for pointed ridicule and execrable puns at the expence of other people’s feelings. Matrimony, I know, has ever been a subject for the smart sayings and “devilish good things” of the witlings of the age. No wonder then, that these Scoffers at Love, when they change their minds (for they all do, or long to do so) should, upon experience, after so many repartees and jests find Matrimony no Joke!!
The following lines were dropped by one of these “Bachelors for Ever” whilst the Exquisite was taking from his coat-pocket his “Book of Steps” for the Quadrille he was practising. Though written with feeling, there breathes throughout such a spirit of hatred and rancour, that, I trust, with some animadversions from your pen, they will defeat their own end. They evidently formed part of some longer Poem, and I beg you will give them speedy publicity. [4]
There! what do you think of this pretty touch at Matrimony and the fair sex? Oblige me by your early remarks upon it.
Your humble servant,
UXORIUS.
Bombay Gazette, 8 September 1819.
“And in Verses like these,” I was wont to celebrate her Birth-day. And now when thou seest her, tell her that my affection never hath strayed from her, and that thro’ my whole life I have loved her alone. –
M.E.
Bombay Gazette, 17 November 1819.
I pine for herIn crowded halls my spirit is with her,Thro’ the long sleepless night I think on her,And happiness is gone and health is lost,I pine away for her yet pity her,That she should spurn a love so true as mine!
M.E.
Bombay Gazette, 2 February 1820.
It was a strong possession, strong and strangeI feel the evil, yet desire not change,Years now have flown nor is the passion cured,For hope hath life and thus is life endured,The mind’s desire, with all its strength steals on,Till youth and health and all but Love are gone;And there are seasons! horrid, dreadful hoursOf mental suffering, they overthrow my powers,And make my mind unsteady.
Bombay Gazette, 12 July 1820.
THE DANDY'S DIARY
M.E.
Notes
[1] EDITOR'S NOTE: The initials C.B. may stand for Catharine Billamore, the birth name of Frederick Hickes’s newly married wife. Hickes, a fellow officer of Morris’s, was to quarrel with him following publication of The Griffin, resulting in Morris’s court martial. See Introduction. BACK
[2] EDITOR'S NOTE: Columns headed ‘The Observer’ and signed by ‘J.’ appear occasionally in the Bombay Gazette in 1818-1819: a full list is given in the Bibliography. While the first seems to be a serious discussion of religious faith among the British in India, the column quickly took on a knowing tone and a satiric approach to subjects including the Bombay theatre (IX and XI), the qualities required for success in India (VI, XIII), the means necessary for those returning to Britain to live adequately (III, V), ladies’ fashions (IV), and letters from correspondents speculating on the identity and circumstances of the ‘Observer’ himself. Numbers IV and X are of particular interest in the context of The Griffin’s anti-feminism, as both introduce letters from supposed female correspondents preoccupied with appearance and with the prospect of a lucrative marriage. Eliza Scanty comes out to India ‘with an entire new Wardrobe of the latest fashions’, thinking ‘of nothing else on the voyage but the pleasure of exhibiting my person (which by the bye I think a very tolerable one) to the greatest advantage’; and targets the ‘Observer’ with flirtatious remarks: ‘I am sure you are a Civilian, and I would lay a bet you are young and handsome’ (IV). The letter from ‘Curvilia’ reinforces The Griffin’s focus on sexualized female bodies: ‘I have been three years in India, and when I first arrived, what with tight lacing, the stocks, and the backboard I landed as upright as possible. Though I had lots of fishes at my hook, and plenty of nibbles, yet my erect manner gained me but one bite and that was from an elderly Cadet whom I civilly rejected[.] The Civilians said I was as stiff as a poker, and the military swore I had swallowed a ramrod, how vulgar! I was rather pretty, rather genteel, rather accomplished and rather amiable, yet still somehow I was rather single, and time threatened to leave me withering on the Virgin thorn, but taking example from several Girls, who by greater pliability of back and greater exposure to squinting eyes & nightly colds, most surprisingly soon enjoyed the sweets of wedlock. I resolved to bend to circumstances and shall still continue in spite of Mr. Observer, or his Dandy friend “to stoop to Conquer”’ (X). BACK
[3] EDITOR'S NOTE: These lines are modelled on Gratiano’s speech in The Merchant of Venice (Act 1, Scene 1). BACK
[4] EDITOR'S NOTE: Lines 23-26 and 32-52 appear in revised form in The Griffin, Canto 6 (ll.44-66). BACK
[5] EDITOR'S NOTE: The source-text for this epigraph is Walter Scott’s anonymous review of Robert Southey’s Chronicle of the Cid (1808): Scott suggests a parallel between the Cid and Cú Chulainn, hero of the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, and has the latter send a dying message to his wife, Emer: ‘And now Laogh, when thou seest Eirir [sic], tell her that my affection never hath strayed from her, that through my whole life I have loved her alone, nor ever saw that woman I would have exchanged for her’ (‘Chronicle of the Cid’, Quarterly Review, February 1809, p. 130). BACK
[6] EDITOR'S NOTE: Robert Southey, Madoc (1805). The lines are taken from a song sung by the eponymous hero, described as ‘Prince Hoel’s lay of love’; they omit one couplet, given in italics below:
[7] EDITOR'S NOTE: Adapted from Book VII of Crabbe’s work:
[8] EDITOR'S NOTE: Nimrod, ‘the mighty hunter before the Lord’ (Genesis 10: 9). BACK