# Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

Published according to Act of Parliament, Sept.$^r$ 1. 1773 by Arch.$^d$ Bell Bookseller N$^o$.8 near the Saracens Head Aldgate.
POEMS
ON
VARIOUS SUBJECTS,
RELIGIOUS AND MORAL.
BY
PHILLIS WHEATLEY,
Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England.
LONDON:
Printed for A. Bell, Bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, BOSTON.
MDCCLXXIII.
Entered at Stationers Hall.
DEDICATION.
To the Right Honourable the
COUNTESS of HUNTINGDON,
THE FOLLOWING
POEMS
Are most respectfully
Inscribed,
By her much obliged,
    Very humble,
       And devoted Servant,
          Phillis Wheatley.
Boston, June 12,
1773.
PREFACE.
The following Poems were written originally for the Amusement of the Author, as they were the Products of her leisure Moments. She had no Intention ever to have published them; nor would they now have made their Appearance, but at the Importunity of many of her best, and most generous Friends; to whom she considers herself, as under the greatest Obligations.
As her Attempts in Poetry are now sent into the World, it is hoped the Critic will not severely censure their Defects; and we presume they have too much Merit ​to be cast aside with Contempt, as worthless and trifling Effusions.
As to the Disadvantages she has laboured under, with Regard to Learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her Master's Letter in the following Page will sufficiently shew the Difficulties in this Respect she had to encounter.
With all their Imperfections, the Poems are now humbly submitted to the Perusal of the Public.
The following is a Copy of a Letter sent by the Author's Master to the Publisher.
Phillis was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between Seven and Eight Years of Age. Without any Assistance from School Education, and by only what she was taught in the Family, she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English Language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, to such a Degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her Writing, her own Curiosity led her to it, and this she learnt in so short a Time, that in the Year 1765, she wrote a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Occom, the Indian Minister, while in England.
She has a great Inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and has made some Progress in it. This Relation is given by her Master who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
JOHN WHEATLEY.
Boston, Nov 14, 1772.
To the PUBLICK.
As it has been repeatedly suggested to the Publisher, by Persons, who have seen the Manuscript, that Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original.
WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems specified in the following Page, were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them.
His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor,
The Hon. Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor.
N.B. The original Attestation, signed by the above Gentlemen, may be seen by applying to Archibald Bell, Bookseller, No. 8, Aldgate-Street.
CONTENTS.
| | Page |
| To Mæcenas | 9 |
| On Virtue | 13 |
| To the University of Cambridge, in New-England | 15 |
| To the King's Most Excellent Majesty | 17 |
| On being brought from Africa | 18 |
| On the Rev. Dr. Sewell | 19 |
| On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield | 22 |
| On the Death of a young Lady of five Years of Age | 25 |
| On the Death of a young Gentleman | 27 |
| To a Lady on the Death of her Husband | 29 |
| Goliath of Gath | 31 |
| Thoughts on the Works of Providence | 43 |
| To a Lady on the Death of three Relations | 51 |
| To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady | 53 |
| An Hymn to the Morning | 56 |
| An Hymn to the Evening | 58 ​ |
| On Isaiah lxiii. 1–8 | 60 |
| On Recollection | 62 |
| On Imagination | 65 |
| A Funeral Poem on the Death of an Infant aged twelve Months | 69 |
| To Captain H. D. of the 65th Regiment | 72 |
| To the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth | 73 |
| Ode to Neptune | 76 |
| To a Lady on her coming to North America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health | 78 |
| To a Lady on her remarkable Preservation in a Hurricane in North Carolina | 80 |
| To a Lady and her Children on the Death of her Son, and their Brother | 82 |
| To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name of Avis, aged one Year | 84 |
| On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marshall | 86 |
| To a Gentleman on his Voyage to Great-Britain, for the Recovery of his Health | 88 |
| To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, in which that Duty is recommended and assisted | 90 ​ |
| On the Death of J. C. an Infant | 92 |
| An Hymn to Humanity | 95 |
| To the Hon. T. H. Esq; on the Death of his Daughter | 98 |
| Niobe in Distress for her Children slain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI. and from a View of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson | 101 |
| To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works | 114 |
| To his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his Lady | 116 |
| A Farewel to America | 119 |
| A Rebus by I. B. | 123 |
| An Answer to ditto, by Phillis Wheatley | 124 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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