The three tours of Doctor Syntax In search of 1. The picturesque, 2. Of consolation, 3. Of a wife. The text complete. [By William Combe] With four illustrations |
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 | The three tours of Doctor Syntax |  |
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“How to express my just regard
And how to shape a due reward,
For all the service you have shown,
For what you're doing and have done,
I cannot to my mind declare, Though that shall be my future care:
But still there is another call Upon your heart at Bounty-Hall,
For much I wish that you would trace The features of my homely face;
It would please me and others too To have my portrait done by you;
And you, my Rev'rend Sir, shall know
The reasons why my wishes flow That you this favour should bestow.
Expanded on the stuccoed wall Of my old mansion's stately hall,
You see my form at large appear When in my three-and-twentieth year,
And deck'd in all the proud array Which gaudy fashion could display;
But then, I trust, my conduct prov'd That I was worthy to be lov'd
By virtue's image, who was then My husband and the best of men.
To wealth and station full allied, My ev'ry wish was gratified,
And I my splendid course pursued, A star of no small magnitude,
And one bright track I did maintain, With love and honour in my train.
Thus fifteen years of life I pass'd In happiness too great to last,
When death at length appear'd, and then I lost, alas! that best of men.
He left no heirs to stamp his name With perpetuity of fame,
But it appears as Heav'n's decree That duty should devolve on me,
And, from the moment when he died,
Here have I liv'd and have applied
My wealth and time and thoughts alone
In doing what he would have done,
And, as he on his death-bed lay, His last instructions to obey.
But though some form my state requires,
Some outward show, yet my desires,
Heav'n knows, impel me to prefer The form of his just almoner.
Then to the canvas pray impart, With touch of unassuming art,
Not Lady Bounty of the world, With all her glitt'ring robes unfurl'd:
But as my present form you see In dignified simplicity,
Such, as if here a year you stay, You'll see her, Doctor, every day.”
Syntax.—
“Madam, you know, you may command
The work of my inferior hand,
But my poor pencil is confin'd To labours of an humble kind:
Nor have I ventur'd on the toil That dares consume the painter's oil.
But if you please to send to town And order proper colours down,
With canvas, pallet, and the rest Which I may want—I'll do my best.”
Lady Bounty.—
“It shall be done, without delay;—
But some short time must pass away,
Ere your most friendly pencil traces
My grateful looks and fading graces.
And I have still a boon to ask, To you, I trust, a pleasing task;
You, whose peculiar virtue knows To act the part which I impose:
You, who can well discharge your duty
To female youth and female beauty,
By fixing in the early mind Those principles by truth design'd
To guard them from the heart's deceit, Which to our sex is more replete
With dangers than it is to man, As your experience well can scan.
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That I protect a seminary
For female youth, at no great distance,
To which I ask your kind assistance,
Its style and manners to review, And there to pass a day or two,
Till the arts' implements recall Your presence back to Bounty-Hall.”
| The three tours of Doctor Syntax | |