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Poets, Cumberland
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Kellington, March 10.
Mr URBAN,
IN addition to the list of living and deceased Poets,
inserted in your last Supplement, p.595, I would wish to
subjoin the Rev. Francis Wrangham, 1790; and a few more
names of persons, who, though their poems are, many of them,
written in a provincial dialect, are by no means unworthy of
a place in a catalogue of British Poets.
The first candidate I shall propose for this honour is the
late Rev. Josiah Relph, for some time perpetual
curate of Sebergham, a small rural village near Carlisle.
His poetical works were first published shortly after his
death, under the superintendance of the Rev. T. Denton, of
Ashted in Surrey. Mr. Denton, I have been informed, was also
himself a poet. A second edition was also printed a few
years ago at Carlisle. The chief and best of them are
Pastorals, written in the dialect of his native county
(Cumberland).
An account of his Life and Writings may be seen in the Notes
to Hutchinson's History of Cumberland.
Mr. Thomas Sanderson, a native also of Sebergham, has
published a small volume of poems, many of which are very
elegant. Mr. Sanderson was also editor of Relph's Poems,
lately published at Carlisle, and to which he annexed an
account of his life, and a pastoral elegy on his death. Mr.
Sanderson is still living in a most beautiful rural
situation upon the banks of the river Line in
Cumberland.
Mr. Robert Anderson, another Cumberland poet, is
still living in Carlisle. Some time ago he published a
volume of peoms, entitled 'Cumberland Ballads.' In these he
accurately describes the manners and rustic sports of his
native county, in its own dialect. Another edition, with
considerable additions of this gentleman's poems, is about
shortly to be published by subscription.
Mr. Robert Carlisle, a native of Carlisle, is still
living. He has arrived at considerable eminence as a
Painter; and is no less celebrated as a votary of the Muses.
He has published several detached poems. Mr. Carlisle, if
memory does not deceive me, is also author of two Novels,
'The Rose of Cumberland,' and 'The Heir of Gilsland.'
The late Miss Susan Blamire, of Thuckwood-nook, near
Carlisle, from what I have seen of her compositions, appears
to be a poetess of superior rank. I am not conscious that
any of her works were ever published: neither am I certain,
(not having the book at hand to refer to) whether any
account of her life is given in Hutchinson's Cumberland. The
following copy of verses, written by her when in a declining
state of health, and which is the only one I have at present
in my possession, may, perhaps, amuse some of your Readers.
'How sweet to the heart is the thought of To-morrow,
When Hope's fairy pictures bright colours display;
How sweet, when we can from futurity borrow
A balm for the grief that afflicts us today!
When wearisome sickness has taught me to languish
For health and the comforts it bears on its wing,
Let me hope, oh! how soon would it lessen my anguish,
That To-morrow will ease and serenity bring.
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