The English Dance of Death from the designs of Thomas Rowlandson, with metrical illustrations, by the author of "Doctor Syntax" [i.e. William Combe] |
 | I. |
 | II. |
|
 | The English Dance of Death |  |
BELINDA, what few Women prove,
Was a Philosopher in Love:
She saw that, in the world, the Passion
Was something like a dress in fashion;
Not made for any lasting uses,
But to put on as Fancy chuses;
And to put off with equal ease
As the prevailing whimsies please.
Fondness and Rapture, and all that
Were words employ'd in common chat,
Which did no solid meaning bear,
But told to ev'ry list'ning fair,
Who chose to hear what Foplings say
And court the Flattery of the day;
Which, 'ere 'tis spoke, has ta'en its flight,
And never lasts from noon till night:
While for that self-same thing call'd Love,
What do its best professors prove,
But that its Hopes, and Fears, and Sighs,
Are Phantoms or Non-Entities;
And, in the wise man's volume found,
As nought but an unmeaning sound.
Was a Philosopher in Love:
She saw that, in the world, the Passion
Was something like a dress in fashion;
Not made for any lasting uses,
But to put on as Fancy chuses;
And to put off with equal ease
As the prevailing whimsies please.
Fondness and Rapture, and all that
Were words employ'd in common chat,
Which did no solid meaning bear,
But told to ev'ry list'ning fair,
Who chose to hear what Foplings say
And court the Flattery of the day;
Which, 'ere 'tis spoke, has ta'en its flight,
And never lasts from noon till night:
174
What do its best professors prove,
But that its Hopes, and Fears, and Sighs,
Are Phantoms or Non-Entities;
And, in the wise man's volume found,
As nought but an unmeaning sound.
| The English Dance of Death | |