During her early life particularly, Judith Sargent Murray
was accustomed to find vent for her emotions of joy or sorrow
through the medium of poetry. She may hardly be considered
skilled in that art, and few of the many lines from her fertile pen
are worth remembering, but she loved the work and found am-
ple reward in the applause of her friends. It is difficult to tell
exactly at what period she began writing, but references to the
family life of the Stevenses, and later the Murrays, seem to
indicate that she was a consistent devotee of the poetic Muses.
A young girl visiting at the Stevens home wrote in her diary
the remark that "Mr. Murray read to us a number of poems
composed by Mrs. Stephens [sic], one in particular on the death
of her aunt was affecting beyond anything." ¹ We have no other
record of this poem and suppose therefore that it was one of
the many which were never put into print.

Mrs. Murray's first printed literary effort, submitted to the
Gentleman and Lady's Town and Country Magazine, in 1784,
an essay on "Encouraging Self-Complacency in Female Bosoms",
was introduced by a poem of some length on the same subject.
Of a distinctly moral and didactic tone, the verses are in keeping
with the spirit of her later works, and are marked by the same
flowery metaphors and sentimental phraseology. The following
extract will give the reader an idea of its style and content: ²

Self estimation, kept within due bounds,
However oddly the assertion sounds,
May, of the fairest efforts be the root,
May yield the embow'ring shade--the mellow fruit;
May stimulate to most exalted deeds,
Direct the soul where blooming honor leads,
May give her then, to act a noble part,
To virtuous pleasures yield the willing heart.

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