Sophia Thrale’s verses
Convolvulus
On 6 August 1780, Hester Thrale reproduced Sophia’s Convolvulus verses in Thraliana…
“The other two Girls leave me tomorrow they will do very well; Sophy has a Turn for making Verses, bad enough to be sure, yet such a Turn shews Genius in a Girl who was nine Years old only a fortnight ago. The following is one of her Attempts forsooth upon a wild Convolvulus which She picked up here between Brighthelmston & Rottenden” [Rottingdean]
“Fairest Product of the Field,
Scent and Fragrance thou dost yield,
Thy Charms indeed are more than I can tell,
They please the Sight, the Sense, the Smell,
Harriot
O Harriot Harriot dearest love
Always Quiet as a Dove
Always pretty gentle Mild
Never Boisterous Rude or Wild
Shun all Quarrels, shun all Strife
You will find enough in Life
I never will Abandon you
But keep as Close as P to Q
Believe me what I say is true.”
Streatham
One other childish poem of Sophia’s survived in her mother's later scrap-book, 'Minced Meat for Pyes'. One of these, on Streatham, appears in Merritt's book Piozzi Marginalia (p. 84).
