![[Header#^header-embed]] > [!SUMMARY] > In August 1777, Herbert Lawrence[^1] wrote a [[Song for Hester Thrale|song dedicated to Hester Thrale]]. > > A year later Hester wrote verses for Lawrence to put to music … > [!QUOTE] [[Hester Thrale née Salusbury|Hester Thrale]] wrote in [[Thraliana]] Aug 1778: > Whence comes it Phillis since we met, > Our Sylvan Games to celebrate; > When Sports went round—with magick Mien > You tript it lightly o’er the Green, > That something ever since that Day > Upon my Spirits seems to prey? > > The pleasing Sense of sweet Repose No more my beating Bosom knows; And ev’ry Symptom seems to prove The Melancholy Truth—I love: Nay never frown, for if I do, Assure yourself—it is not You. > [!QUOTE] [[Hester Thrale née Salusbury|Hester Thrale]] later wrote in [[Thraliana]]: > In former days when I lived in Dean Street, particularly the last year my Father lived, & during the interval between his Death & [[Henry and Hester's marriage|my Marriage]], we were very often visited by Herbert Lawrence; Brother to General[^2] who courted Miss Rich & died in America[^3]: He was a capital musician I believe, & played sweetly on the [German Flute](http://www.thrale.com/German%20Flute); he never could make me Sing, but nothing would serve him but I must at least write a Song, & he would set it to Musick: I looked over [Boileau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Boileau-Despr%C3%A9aux), and imitating his [Epigram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigram) of **Tout me fait peine & depuis un Jour, &c**. I wrote the following Lines which he set sure enough & [Beard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Beard_%28tenor%29) sung it one Spring at [Ranelagh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranelagh_Gardens). > > > What is it, say, what is it, pray, That gives me so much pain? If love is gone, I carry on, And hope to love again. > > > The rose from thorns, the bee from flowers, The lily from the thorn, Then why not I, for what made I In love, since I was born? > > > If tears will last, if care is past, If I have lost a heart, One heart may gain a love again Though never the same heart. ## See also ![[hester-lynch-thrale-1741-1821🔎#^hester-lynch-thrale-infoblock]] #history/person/SALUSBURY/hester-lynch-born-1741 #history/person/LAWRENCE/herbert-died-1797 ![[Footer#^footer-embed]] [^1]: A surgeon and apothecary (1722-1797). [^2]: Charles Lawrence, Govenor of Nova Scotia 1753-1760. [^3]: In 1760 of pneumonia, after over-indulging in a Nova Scotian banquet.