Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 215 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 215: what you’re looking at
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# Page 197: "The Shawl's Petition to Lady Asgill" This is a page of running verse poetry, not a title page or illustration. The poem is a whimsical petition written from the perspective of a decorative shawl addressing a lady named Asgill. The shawl flatters her beauty, recounts its journey from exotic Kashmir and Tibet to colder climates, and describes how it adorns her shoulders and form, adding charm that "Venus well might own." The verse employs romantic, ornate language typical of Victorian sensibility, though the conceit of an object petitioning its wearer is playful rather than sensational.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
197 THE SHAWL’S PETITION. EO LADY ASGILL. On, fairer than the fairest forms ‘ Which the bright sun of Persia warms, Though nymphs of Cashmire lead the dance With pliant grace, and beamy glance ; And forms of beauty ever play Around the bowers of Moselay ; Fairest ! thine ear indulgent lend, And to thy suppliant Shawl attend! If, well content, I left for thee Those bowers beyond the Indian sea, And native, fragrant fields of rose E.xchanged for Hyperborean snows ; If, from those vales of soft perfume, Pride of Tibet’s far boasted loom, I came, well pleased, thy form to deck, And, from thy bending polished neck Around thy graceful shoulders flung, With many an untaught beauty clung, Or added to thy brilliant zone A charm that Venus well mht own, comicloooks.conn