Page:Poems Davidson.djvu/35

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INTRODUCTORY.
xxiii
Adieu, and may thy elf locks fly
Forever 'round thy brow.

"On reading it, I went up-stairs, and found her enveloped in books and manuscripts. Several large folios lay open on the table, to which she seemed to have been referring; while books, papers, and scraps of poetry were strewn in confusion over the carpet. Her luxuriant hair had escaped from its confinement, and hung in rich glossy curls upon her neck and shoulders, while the superannuated comb lay at her feet. As I hastily entered the room, she manifested some mortification, that I should have 'surprised her in the midst of so much confusion, and, throwing her handkerchief over her papers, laughingly asked what I thought of the Petition? I advised her to send directly to the 'well-filled glittering shelf,' as I had no desire to see the curse denounced verified, or her

     "EIf locks fly
Forever round her brow."

"'Maritorne, or the Pirate of Mexico," was written in Albany, during her stay at the Institution of Miss Gilbert, at a time when she was ill, in the brief space of three weeks, while getting daily lessons like any other school-girl. During that period, she also produced several fugitive pieces. She had been absent from home but six weeks when I was summoned to attend her: she had then been confined to her bed three weeks. On the morning after my arrival, she desired me to collect the