Poems on Several Occasions In which are included, The Toilette and The Fall. By Joseph Thurston ... The Second Edition |
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| I. |
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| III. | BOOK III. |
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 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
126
BOOK III.
But deep in thought, and with a careless air,
Our artful Lover fill'd his easy chair:
A huge romance his busy fingers thrum'd,
He mus'd while reading, and while musing hum'd.
Our artful Lover fill'd his easy chair:
A huge romance his busy fingers thrum'd,
He mus'd while reading, and while musing hum'd.
As when a Critic Beau on shifting day,
Steals unsuspected to his favour'd play;
Where, with the glass alike and poet smit,
He stares divided 'twixt himself and wit:
So far'd our hero; in his gentle breast
Florella reign'd despotic, and confess'd;
But still where'er he turn'd his ravish'd eye,
His figure fac'd him in some mirror nigh:
His figure oft, and oft the nymph would yield;
And this, and that, by turns maintain'd the field.
Steals unsuspected to his favour'd play;
Where, with the glass alike and poet smit,
He stares divided 'twixt himself and wit:
127
Florella reign'd despotic, and confess'd;
But still where'er he turn'd his ravish'd eye,
His figure fac'd him in some mirror nigh:
His figure oft, and oft the nymph would yield;
And this, and that, by turns maintain'd the field.
While thus his well-pois'd mind to neither bends,
A ghastly Fantom at his feet ascends;
A Female's aged Form the spectre wore,
And loose and gorgeous was the robe she bore;
Uncouth it sat, and tarnish'd was it's hue,
Soil'd by the magic night's unwholsome dew;
Sunk were the fury's eyes, and visage vile;
She forc'd, but hardly forc'd a harlot-smile;
Then thus began: “And dost thou silent pine,
“While all the labour, all the pain is mine?
“Unactive mortal! think what fame attends
“The curse of Rivals, and the praise of Friends:
“Think what 'twere worth, this virgin prize to gain,
“This boasted pattern of the peevish train!
“Not that bold He a wider praise shall claim,
“Who burnt their temple to erect his fame.
“Be thine this living temple to destroy;
“In pride pursue it, and in flames enjoy;
“Nor hard the task: 'Twas at the midnight noon,
“By the white glimm'ring of the sickly moon,
“When dreary dripping fogs and mists obscene
“Our sacred rites and forceful labours screen,
“From cloyster'd walls where saints their hours improve,
“(The last recess of luxury and love)
“From grass-green arches sacred to the view,
“I brush'd with mystic spells the rancid dew,
“Parent of wanton dreams! and o'er her head,
“All guiltless as she lay, the fateful Philtre shed.
“'Tis noon, and yet my charm it's pow'r maintains,
“Flames o'er her cheeks, and trembles in her veins.
“Haste then, e'er lost in thought, and cooling pride,
“The mantling venom of the god subside.
“She said, and ceas'd. The youth to dress arose,
Thus doubly arm'd with council, and with cloaths.
A ghastly Fantom at his feet ascends;
A Female's aged Form the spectre wore,
And loose and gorgeous was the robe she bore;
Uncouth it sat, and tarnish'd was it's hue,
Soil'd by the magic night's unwholsome dew;
Sunk were the fury's eyes, and visage vile;
She forc'd, but hardly forc'd a harlot-smile;
Then thus began: “And dost thou silent pine,
“While all the labour, all the pain is mine?
“Unactive mortal! think what fame attends
“The curse of Rivals, and the praise of Friends:
“Think what 'twere worth, this virgin prize to gain,
“This boasted pattern of the peevish train!
“Not that bold He a wider praise shall claim,
“Who burnt their temple to erect his fame.
“Be thine this living temple to destroy;
“In pride pursue it, and in flames enjoy;
“Nor hard the task: 'Twas at the midnight noon,
“By the white glimm'ring of the sickly moon,
128
“Our sacred rites and forceful labours screen,
“From cloyster'd walls where saints their hours improve,
“(The last recess of luxury and love)
“From grass-green arches sacred to the view,
“I brush'd with mystic spells the rancid dew,
“Parent of wanton dreams! and o'er her head,
“All guiltless as she lay, the fateful Philtre shed.
“'Tis noon, and yet my charm it's pow'r maintains,
“Flames o'er her cheeks, and trembles in her veins.
“Haste then, e'er lost in thought, and cooling pride,
“The mantling venom of the god subside.
“She said, and ceas'd. The youth to dress arose,
Thus doubly arm'd with council, and with cloaths.
As when some butterfly sets out to play,
Pert with the tepid noon's informing ray;
Secure he wantons on his infant wing,
And spreads the painted trifle to the spring;
On each fair flow'r in pride pretends to rest;
A guiltless, light, imperceptible guest:
So Clodio shone; trip'd instant to his chair,
Inclos'd, his slaves convey'd him to the fair.
Pert with the tepid noon's informing ray;
Secure he wantons on his infant wing,
And spreads the painted trifle to the spring;
On each fair flow'r in pride pretends to rest;
A guiltless, light, imperceptible guest:
So Clodio shone; trip'd instant to his chair,
Inclos'd, his slaves convey'd him to the fair.
Ye guardian Nine, whom watchful heav'n design'd
The soft instructors of the frailer kind,
Smile on my lines, which only aim to show
What to themselves the trifling charmers owe.
Think, think, ye fair, how fame unheeded flies,
The coxcomb's topic, or the ruffian's prize.
With wrinkl'd foreheads for the Vole ye play,
While Virtue (losing card) is smil'd away.
Be that a gift, but to desert alone;
While kept in honest hands, 'tis still your own.
What nymph of spirit would descend so low,
To sigh beneath the mercy of a beau?
Your honour still, as churls their riches use,
With insolence retain, with caution lose.
The soft instructors of the frailer kind,
129
What to themselves the trifling charmers owe.
Think, think, ye fair, how fame unheeded flies,
The coxcomb's topic, or the ruffian's prize.
With wrinkl'd foreheads for the Vole ye play,
While Virtue (losing card) is smil'd away.
Be that a gift, but to desert alone;
While kept in honest hands, 'tis still your own.
What nymph of spirit would descend so low,
To sigh beneath the mercy of a beau?
Your honour still, as churls their riches use,
With insolence retain, with caution lose.
Vertue! thou mimic pow'r, the pedant's dream,
The knave's profession, and the atheist's theme!
By prudence warn'd, thy precepts we revere,
And only idolize, because we fear:
To thee with equal claim and art pretend
The fawning tyrant, and proscribing friend;
While with thy real self (profane to tell!)
The poor, the wretched, and the friendless dwell.
The knave's profession, and the atheist's theme!
By prudence warn'd, thy precepts we revere,
And only idolize, because we fear:
To thee with equal claim and art pretend
The fawning tyrant, and proscribing friend;
While with thy real self (profane to tell!)
The poor, the wretched, and the friendless dwell.
Say heavenly muse, ('tis thine that task to claim)
What shoals of swains address'd our gentle dame.
Florio, the first, a beau of blameless life,
Unstain'd with anger, avarice and strife;
To use his time one jot he never knew;
To make it sparkle was his proper cue.
So doting keepers half their wealth employ
To dress the rampant punk they ne'er enjoy.
Florella view'd his ever-blooming grace,
That more than female softness in his face;
She paus'd, and found by impulse strong within,
A beau and beauty were too near a-kin.
What shoals of swains address'd our gentle dame.
Florio, the first, a beau of blameless life,
Unstain'd with anger, avarice and strife;
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To make it sparkle was his proper cue.
So doting keepers half their wealth employ
To dress the rampant punk they ne'er enjoy.
Florella view'd his ever-blooming grace,
That more than female softness in his face;
She paus'd, and found by impulse strong within,
A beau and beauty were too near a-kin.
Fabritio next, of life politely ill,
Sustain'd by vice, and justify'd by skill.
To marriage-laws no friend profest was he,
He swore the priests had forg'd them for the fee.
With dice he chas'd the live long night away,
In plenty restless, and in ruin gay.
Let 'squires at taxes, cits at treaties rail,
No state-deductions o'er the Main prevail.
Bold his address, and well conceal'd his art,
(An apt temptation for a female heart!)
Sustain'd by vice, and justify'd by skill.
To marriage-laws no friend profest was he,
He swore the priests had forg'd them for the fee.
With dice he chas'd the live long night away,
In plenty restless, and in ruin gay.
Let 'squires at taxes, cits at treaties rail,
No state-deductions o'er the Main prevail.
Bold his address, and well conceal'd his art,
(An apt temptation for a female heart!)
Next in the rear advanc'd a motly train,
From shop, from court, from commons, and campaign:
But these in vain had urg'd their humble suit,
Had heav'n decreed that Clodio should be mute.
So hapless Troy had long in triumph stood,
And drain'd the braggart Greeks decreasing blood;
But Ocean's grizly pow'r to vengeance flew,
Her heroes blasted, and her tow'rs o'erthrew.
From shop, from court, from commons, and campaign:
But these in vain had urg'd their humble suit,
Had heav'n decreed that Clodio should be mute.
So hapless Troy had long in triumph stood,
And drain'd the braggart Greeks decreasing blood;
131
Her heroes blasted, and her tow'rs o'erthrew.
Florella now, in finish'd splendor drest,
Receiv'd the homage of her fatal guest.
His cloaths shone conquest; but to them he join'd
His Words, the nobler cloathing of the mind;
Like honey sweet they fell—resistless charm!
Like that, the plunder of some noisy swarm;
Yet well transpos'd, and which might quite declare,
They bore no methodizing blockheads care.
As the fleck'd heavens, in summer's ev'ning ray,
Fantastic forms and shapeless clouds display,
Which not united by the stream of light,
Divide attention, and confound the sight:
So spake the youth, successful in his ease;
For form but teaches, liberty will please:
Or regular or not, was one with him:
Love knows no symmetry beyond the limb.
He talk'd of wonders undeclar'd before,
What hazards he had brav'd, what hardships bore.
On each fam'd place full well he could declaim,
Praise all it's beauties, and forget it's name:
Could tell (if noted) for what proper grace,
The mart for women, or the price of lace.
Then he declar'd how all his labours past
Were well rewarded by their fruits at last:
What court was paid him by the wit and beau;
How one to dress aspir'd, and one to know:
Well could he judge of plays; and oft had seen
How humble authors hitch their pieces in,
Expunge, acknowledge, shorten or enlarge,
As the learn'd sages of the scene shall charge:
For bashful poets, better taught than fed,
Give up the labour'd line in hopes of bread.
Receiv'd the homage of her fatal guest.
His cloaths shone conquest; but to them he join'd
His Words, the nobler cloathing of the mind;
Like honey sweet they fell—resistless charm!
Like that, the plunder of some noisy swarm;
Yet well transpos'd, and which might quite declare,
They bore no methodizing blockheads care.
As the fleck'd heavens, in summer's ev'ning ray,
Fantastic forms and shapeless clouds display,
Which not united by the stream of light,
Divide attention, and confound the sight:
So spake the youth, successful in his ease;
For form but teaches, liberty will please:
Or regular or not, was one with him:
Love knows no symmetry beyond the limb.
He talk'd of wonders undeclar'd before,
What hazards he had brav'd, what hardships bore.
On each fam'd place full well he could declaim,
Praise all it's beauties, and forget it's name:
Could tell (if noted) for what proper grace,
The mart for women, or the price of lace.
Then he declar'd how all his labours past
Were well rewarded by their fruits at last:
132
How one to dress aspir'd, and one to know:
Well could he judge of plays; and oft had seen
How humble authors hitch their pieces in,
Expunge, acknowledge, shorten or enlarge,
As the learn'd sages of the scene shall charge:
For bashful poets, better taught than fed,
Give up the labour'd line in hopes of bread.
She heard; Florella heard his tempting tongue:
Such wit, such wonders in a form so young!
Attentive sat she, like some love sick maid
Who steals unheeded to the friendly shade,
And silent list'ning hears as in a dream
The midnight murmur of the falling stream.
She prais'd his tale, and marvell'd much to find
A Beau, the master of so brave a mind:
“How lov'd at home! what wild desires to range!
She said, (but swore not) it was passing strange.
Such wit, such wonders in a form so young!
Attentive sat she, like some love sick maid
Who steals unheeded to the friendly shade,
And silent list'ning hears as in a dream
The midnight murmur of the falling stream.
She prais'd his tale, and marvell'd much to find
A Beau, the master of so brave a mind:
“How lov'd at home! what wild desires to range!
She said, (but swore not) it was passing strange.
The youth with transport view'd his charmer fir'd,
And blest the passion which himself inspir'd:
In her disorder'd form, confus'd and odd,
He saw and hail'd the stimulating god.
Heedless she gaz'd, and reckless of surprize,
Wild flew the glances from her humid eyes.
So, where swift streams their shallow course pursue,
And the shelv'd bottom glimmers to the view,
The heedless fish their fatal banquet try,
Expos'd, and aidful to the angler's eye:
Their sable backs now dart a doubtful gleam;
Now flash their shining scales amidst the stream;
Now down they shoot, precipitately bright,
In one short tract of momentary light:
Watchful He stands, and (savage to relate!)
Admires their beauty, while he plots their fate.
And blest the passion which himself inspir'd:
In her disorder'd form, confus'd and odd,
He saw and hail'd the stimulating god.
Heedless she gaz'd, and reckless of surprize,
Wild flew the glances from her humid eyes.
So, where swift streams their shallow course pursue,
And the shelv'd bottom glimmers to the view,
133
Expos'd, and aidful to the angler's eye:
Their sable backs now dart a doubtful gleam;
Now flash their shining scales amidst the stream;
Now down they shoot, precipitately bright,
In one short tract of momentary light:
Watchful He stands, and (savage to relate!)
Admires their beauty, while he plots their fate.
But Clodio, mindful of the morning sprite,
Seiz'd the white hour, and urg'd his hop'd delight;
For not unwisely does your nurse declare,
“The lucky minute ever wins the fair.
If then some hidden pow'r their fancies move,
Caprice, Digestion, Gallantry, or Love;
Or if the Genius more intensely reigns,
And forceful revels thro' the swelling veins;
Whate'er it be, an easy prey they yield,
And having long maintain'd, betray the field.
Her lips he seiz'd; those lips which e'rst before
The vernal zephyrs had with awe forbore:
The sun alone the soft sensation knew,
Swell'd the ripe blush, and revell'd in their dew.
These once resign'd; what wanted to compleat
The grand, irrevocable, last defeat?
Seiz'd the white hour, and urg'd his hop'd delight;
For not unwisely does your nurse declare,
“The lucky minute ever wins the fair.
If then some hidden pow'r their fancies move,
Caprice, Digestion, Gallantry, or Love;
Or if the Genius more intensely reigns,
And forceful revels thro' the swelling veins;
Whate'er it be, an easy prey they yield,
And having long maintain'd, betray the field.
Her lips he seiz'd; those lips which e'rst before
The vernal zephyrs had with awe forbore:
The sun alone the soft sensation knew,
Swell'd the ripe blush, and revell'd in their dew.
These once resign'd; what wanted to compleat
The grand, irrevocable, last defeat?
134
An aunt Florella had (Urganda call)
Of visage meagre, and of stature tall:
A maiden had she pin'd full forty year,
Yet none could say her wedding-day was near:
True to her parish-church was ever she,
If the bell toll'd, she mov'd by sympathy:
Yet zealous as she was, tis often said,
She rail'd with more devotion than she pray'd:
Sharp was her nose, sagacious to the view,
Twice twenty frosts had pinch'd it black and blue.
Of visage meagre, and of stature tall:
A maiden had she pin'd full forty year,
Yet none could say her wedding-day was near:
True to her parish-church was ever she,
If the bell toll'd, she mov'd by sympathy:
Yet zealous as she was, tis often said,
She rail'd with more devotion than she pray'd:
Sharp was her nose, sagacious to the view,
Twice twenty frosts had pinch'd it black and blue.
This finish'd form, as to such uses doom'd,
The virgin goddess of the bow assum'd,
And hast'ning strait her interrupting aid,
Dash'd the bold lover, and reliev'd the maid.
Amaz'd he rose, defrauded of his prey,
Short'ning with direful oaths his homeward way;
Such oaths, as beaux in mood unmeaning swear,
When they, or rail at, or address the fair.
So screams a parrot in his splendid cage,
If hunger force, or Miss provoke his rage;
With half-form'd voice invokes the gods to ill,
Scant in his pow'r, but prodigal of will.
The virgin goddess of the bow assum'd,
And hast'ning strait her interrupting aid,
Dash'd the bold lover, and reliev'd the maid.
Amaz'd he rose, defrauded of his prey,
Short'ning with direful oaths his homeward way;
Such oaths, as beaux in mood unmeaning swear,
When they, or rail at, or address the fair.
So screams a parrot in his splendid cage,
If hunger force, or Miss provoke his rage;
With half-form'd voice invokes the gods to ill,
Scant in his pow'r, but prodigal of will.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |