Durgen Or, A Plain Satyr upon a Pompous Satyrist. Amicably Inscrib'd, by the Author, to those Worthy and Ingenious Gentlemen misrepresented in a late invective Poem, call'd, The Dunciad [by Edward Ward] |
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 | Durgen |  |
Ladies, bright heav'nly Stars, to you I bow,
Your charming Sex my Muse addresses now,
Without whose soft'ning Graces we should find
Proud Man unfriendly, and to rage inclin'd;
The sweet Examples your Endowments give,
Instruct us how to talk and how to live;
Your Beauties furnish Lovers Pens with Themes,
And lull our Poets into pleasing Dreams;
Your Virtues prompt'em both to Think and Write,
And your kind Converse makes the World Polite;
Robb'd of your Charms we justly might assert,
That Man would be no more than living Dirt,
Who, when divested of your soothing Smiles,
Has nothing left him to reward his Toils.
Then curs'd be e'ery Miser, Fool and Sot,
That value not such Blessings as they ought,
But drudge and hurry on their days till Old,
Some in pursuit of Wine, and some of Gold,
Affect a single State, neglect the Fair,
And die without a self-begotten Heir.
O Muse! inspire me with a just regard
To th'tender Sex, whose Favours I have shar'd,
And, to their Honour and my own, can say,
Not in a vicious, but a lawful way,
O grant me power, whilst on Earth I dwell,
To do 'em good, at least to wish'em well.
Your charming Sex my Muse addresses now,
Without whose soft'ning Graces we should find
Proud Man unfriendly, and to rage inclin'd;
The sweet Examples your Endowments give,
Instruct us how to talk and how to live;
Your Beauties furnish Lovers Pens with Themes,
And lull our Poets into pleasing Dreams;
Your Virtues prompt'em both to Think and Write,
And your kind Converse makes the World Polite;
Robb'd of your Charms we justly might assert,
That Man would be no more than living Dirt,
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Has nothing left him to reward his Toils.
Then curs'd be e'ery Miser, Fool and Sot,
That value not such Blessings as they ought,
But drudge and hurry on their days till Old,
Some in pursuit of Wine, and some of Gold,
Affect a single State, neglect the Fair,
And die without a self-begotten Heir.
O Muse! inspire me with a just regard
To th'tender Sex, whose Favours I have shar'd,
And, to their Honour and my own, can say,
Not in a vicious, but a lawful way,
O grant me power, whilst on Earth I dwell,
To do 'em good, at least to wish'em well.
| Durgen | |