| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. To Miss Kelly, the Actress | | By Charles Lamb (1775–1834) |
| | | YOU are not, Kelly, of the common strain, | |
| That stoop their pride and female honor down | |
| To please that many-headed beast, The Town, | |
| And vend their lavish smiles and tricks for gain; | |
| By fortune thrown amid the actor’s train, | 5 |
| You keep your native dignity of thought; | |
| The plaudits that attend you come unsought, | |
| As tributes due unto your natural vein. | |
| Your tears have passion in them, and a grace | |
| Of genuine freshness, which our hearts avow; | 10 |
| Your smiles are winds whose ways we cannot trace, | |
| That vanish and return we know not how,— | |
| And please the better from a pensive face, | |
| A thoughtful eye, and a reflecting brow. | | | | |
|
|
