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 |  |
“In this fair Lady are combin'd The beauties of the form and mind.
She's rich withal and has withstood Five years of tempting widowhood,
When many a suitor, but in vain, Has strove her favour to obtain,
The soldier bold, the dashing 'squire,
Have hop'd to wake the amorous fire;
Beaux of various sorts and size Have thought to bear away the prize;
But she, as it is said, has sworn She ne'er to Hymen would return,
Unless the saffron-mantled power Would join her in his roseate bower,
To one with ancient learning fraught,
With all that modern science taught,
And in whose talents might be trac'd The seeds of genius and of taste.
For one endued with such a mind She'd leave exterior grace behind:
A scholar and a virtuous sage, Whate'er his shape, whate'er his age,
Would her discerning heart engage.
A witty, a deformed Scarron She would prefer, like Maintenon,
To all that superficial race Who know no charm beyond the face
And are enchanted by the plume
That waves in fashion's drawing-room.”
Syntax this question then preferr'd:
“Think you that she will keep her word?”
When he was answer'd frank and free,
As such enquiries ought to be:
She's rich withal and has withstood Five years of tempting widowhood,
When many a suitor, but in vain, Has strove her favour to obtain,
The soldier bold, the dashing 'squire,
Have hop'd to wake the amorous fire;
Beaux of various sorts and size Have thought to bear away the prize;
But she, as it is said, has sworn She ne'er to Hymen would return,
Unless the saffron-mantled power Would join her in his roseate bower,
To one with ancient learning fraught,
With all that modern science taught,
And in whose talents might be trac'd The seeds of genius and of taste.
For one endued with such a mind She'd leave exterior grace behind:
A scholar and a virtuous sage, Whate'er his shape, whate'er his age,
Would her discerning heart engage.
A witty, a deformed Scarron She would prefer, like Maintenon,
To all that superficial race Who know no charm beyond the face
And are enchanted by the plume
That waves in fashion's drawing-room.”
Syntax this question then preferr'd:
“Think you that she will keep her word?”
When he was answer'd frank and free,
As such enquiries ought to be:
| The three tours of Doctor Syntax | |