Elizabeth Bentley (writer)

Elizabeth Bentley (1767–1839) was an English poet, born in Norwich.

Come, swift-wing'd Fancy, airy maid,
In varied, dazzling vest array'd...

Quotes

• Say, lordly Man, of pow'rs possest,
  That no inferior creatures know;
  Say, can the mind with reason blest,
  Relentless fury show.
  To thy domain all beasts belong,
  Yet why so merciless thy sway?
  Why to the harmless, useful throng,
  Such cruelty display?
  Let all thy kind compassion share,
  Through Nature's universal frame;
  Whatever breathes thy kindred air,
  Or feels the vital flame.
  • On Cruelty to Animals (1789), from Genuine Poetical Compositions, on Various Subjects (1791)

• Come, swift-wing'd Fancy, airy maid,
  In varied, dazzling vest array'd,
  Inspire thy vot'ry's lay;
  Grant me thy flow'ry walks to tread,
  To range thy summer-painted mead,
  Or near thy fountain play.
  Now led by thy resistless hand,
  Or guided by thy fairy wand,
  O'er yet untrodden space;
  Or on thy pinions borne along,
  The bright Ideas' flitting throngs
  Pursue th' aerial race.
  • Ode to Fancy (1790), from Genuine Poetical Compositions, on Various Subjects (1791)

External links

• Genuine Poetical Compositions, on Various Subjects (1791) (Norwich, by subscription, 1791) (Etext, British Women Romantic Poets Project)
• Landry, Donna. "Bentley, Elizabeth (bap. 1767, d. 1839)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004.