Phillis Wheatley - The Poems of Phillis Wheatley

The Poems of Phillis Wheatley

1966, 1989 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784.
[Poems]
The poems of Phillis Wheatley / edited with an introduction by Julian D. Mason,Jr.Rev. and enl. ed.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-4245-4 (pbk.)
I. Mason,Julian D. (Julian Dewey), 1931-. II. Title.
PS866.W5 1989

88-23280

811.Idc19

CIP

The paper in this book meets the
guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production
Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.

In Memory of
C. Hugh Holman
(19141981)
and
with loving thanks to

Elsie,
who has been at my
side in this endeavor
from its beginnings in
the 1950s on, always
with both understanding
and encouragement

Phillis Wheatley frontispiece

All illustrations are from the 1773 edition of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in the Louis Round Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Grateful acknowledgment is given to the following for permission to use for this edition the items from each of them indicated below:

The American Antiquarian Society for manuscripts of Wheatleys poems To the University of Cambridge, Wrote in 1767 and On the Death of the Revd Dr. Sewall. 1769; handwritten notes in a copy of Wheatleys Poems on Various Subjects; and information about a copy of Thomas Amorys Daily Devotions once owned by Wheatley and also once owned by the society.

The Beinecke Library of Yale University for the inscription in a copy of John Lathrops The Importance of Early Piety which was once owned by Wheatley.

The Boston Public Library for a manuscript of Wheatleys letter to Samuel Hopkins of 6 May 1774 (in the Chamberlin Collection in Rare Books and Manuscripts).

The Bowdoin College Library for a manuscript of Wheatleys poem On the Capture of General Lee.

The Cheshunt Foundation, Westminster College, Cambridge, England, for manuscripts of Wheatleys poem On the Decease of the Revd Dr. Sewell; letters from Phillis Wheatley to the Countess of Huntingdon of 25 October 1770, 27 June 1773, and 17 July 1773; letters from Susanna Wheatley to the Countess of Huntingdon of 20 February 1773 and 30 April 1773; and letters from Richard Cary to the Countess of Huntingdon of 25 May 1772, 3 April 1773, and 3 May 1773all of the above from the Papers of the Countess of Huntingdon.

The Connecticut Historical Society for manuscripts of Wheatleys poems On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marshall and To the Rev, Mr. Pitkin, on the Death of his Lady, and a letter from Susanna Wheatley to Samson Occom of 29 March 1773.

The Essex Institute for inscriptions in a copy of Granville Sharps Remarks on Several Very Important Prophecies, in Five Parts which was once owned by Wheatley.

The Haverford College Librarys Quaker Collection for a manuscript of Wheatleys letter to Arbour Tanner of 19 May 1772.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania for manuscripts of a letter from Wheatley to Samuel Hopkins of 9 February 1774 and of Wheatleys poem To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty; and broadsides of Wheatleys poems To Mrs. Leonard, on the Death of Her Husband, To the Honble Thomas Hubbard, and An Elegiac Poem [on the death of Whitefield],

The Houghton Library of Harvard University for a manuscript of Wheatleys A Poem on the Death of Charles Eliot.

The Huntington Library for a broadside of Wheatleys An Ode of Verses on the Death of George Whitefield.

The Library Company of Philadelphia for manuscripts of Wheatleys poems Atheism, Deism, America, To the Hon.ble Commodore Hood, On the Death of Mr. Snider, and on Atheism.

The Library of Congress (Rare Book and Special Collections Division) for a broadside of Wheatleys poem To the Rev. Mr. Pitkin, on the Death of his Lady.

The Massachusetts Historical Society for manuscripts of letters from Wheatley to David Worcester [Wooster] of 18 October 1773 and to Mary Wooster of 15 July 1778 (which includes Wheatleys poem On the Death of General Wooster); letters from John Andrews to William Barrell of 29 May 1772, 22 September 1772, 24 and 26 February 1773, 4 June 1773, 28 January 1774, and 7 and 18 February 1774 and ones from Barrell to Andrews of 16 and 22 March 1773; a letter from the Countess of Huntingdon to Mrs. John Wheatley of 13 May 1773; letters from Elizabeth Wallcut to Thomas Wallcut of 30 January and 18 March 1773, from Thomas Wallcut to Elizabeth Wallcut of 20 April 1773, and from Christopher Wallcut to Thomas Wallcut of 8 March 1774; letters from Wheatley to Obour (Arbour) Tanner of 19 July 1772, 30 October 1773, 21 March 1774, 6 May 1774, 29 May 1778, and 10 May 1779; Wheatleys poems An Address to the Atheist, An Address to the Deist, Atheism, A Poem on the Death of Charles Eliot, and An Elegy Sacred to the Memory of the Revd. Samuel Cooper D.D.; and a letter from Wheatley to Lord Dartmouth of 10 October 1772. Also for a broadside of Wheatleys poem An Elegy to Miss. Mary Moorhead and a pamphlet of her poem An Elegy, Sacred to the Memory of... Dr. Samuel Cooper.

The Medford Historical Society for letters from Timothy Fitch to Peter Gwin of 12 January and 8 November 1760 and 4 September 1761.

The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University for a manuscript of Wheatleys poem On Friendship (Thomas Gregory Collection, Box 3712, Folder 362).

The New-York Historical Society for a pamphlet of Wheatleys poem Liberty and Peace.

The Rare Book collection of the Louis Round Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the complete 1773 Poems on Various Subjects, including the picture of Wheatley.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, for a manuscript prayer said to have been found in Wheatleys Bible and for inscriptions in books which were owned by her.

The Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh, Scotland, for manuscripts (GD 26/13/663) of letters from Wheatley to John Thornton of 21 April 1772, 1 December 1773, 29 March 1774, and 30 October 1770 [1774]; a letter from Thornton to Wheatley, 1775 [1774]; and letters from Susanna Wheatley to Thornton of 26 October 1771 and 9 February 1773. Permission to use these was granted by the Earl of Leven and Melville, for which thanks is given.

The Staffordshire Record Office, Stafford, England, for manuscripts of a letter from Thomas Wooldridge to Lord Dartmouth of 24 November 1772 and one from Wheatley to Lord Dartmouth of 10 October 1772; Wheatleys poem To the Right Honl. William Earl of Dartmouth; and a biographical sketch of Wheatley, signed by Nathaniel Wheatleyall from the Papers of Lord Dartmouth. Permission to use these materials was granted by the Earl of Dartmouth, for which thanks is given.