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loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

"on a favourite dog" c. 1715

thanks british library flickr (PD)
Mary Monck (Irish, d. 1715)  was the second daughter of the first Viscount Molesworth; the wife of George Monck of Dublin; accomplished in Latin, Spanish and Italian; and a poet whose verse was published by her father after her death.  In that slim volume, titled Marinda: Poems and Translations upon Several Occasions, there's the following short and tender reflection:

On a Favourite Dog
Press gently on him, earth, and all around
Ye flowers spring up, and deck th' enamelled ground,
Breathe forth your choicest odours, and perfume
With all your fragrant sweets his little tomb.

This was likely in honor of her father's white greyhound, who died in 1714 and in whose honor a monument was raised near the family's English estate in Yorkshire.  You can see that monument and read more on its history here. (Scroll to page 2.)

Poem found in:  Squire, John Collings, Sir, 1884-1958. A Book of Women's Verse. Oxford: The Clarendon press, 1921, p. 48.

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