The Last Request

'The Last Request' is taken from a poem 'Monody to the Memory of a Young Lady Who Died in Childbed by an Afflicted Husband (1768) by Cuthbert Shaw (1739-1771). In the poem, the dying wife Emma requests her husband, when he re-marries, to keep their child separate from its stepmother, so that it will transfer its affection to her or know her dislike, and will enjoy its father's love in isolation.