 | The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale |  |
265
PROLOGUE, For the School for Wives.
Harriet, with all the life of gay sixteen,
A friend to irony, a foe to spleen;
A sly inspector into modern life,
And therefore wishing to commence a wife,
My fancy thought it overheard, to-day,
Thus to her sister criticize our play.
A friend to irony, a foe to spleen;
A sly inspector into modern life,
And therefore wishing to commence a wife,
My fancy thought it overheard, to-day,
Thus to her sister criticize our play.
“What can this antiquated poet mean,
A stranger sure to life's important scene?
Some dull Welsh hermit of the reverend gown;
He must be unacquainted with the town.
Once by this piece it's author will not dine:
It ne'er will turn the parson's ale to wine.
A stranger sure to life's important scene?
Some dull Welsh hermit of the reverend gown;
He must be unacquainted with the town.
Once by this piece it's author will not dine:
It ne'er will turn the parson's ale to wine.
“The pedant opens a new School for Wives;
Why, marriage is the study of our lives.
Instinctive soon unfolds the favorite thought;
The principles of genius are self-taught.
We plot, we find, even at the boarding-school,
The way to win him, and the way to rule.
Mixed with the world we learn to top our parts:
And soon we're Graduates, Mistresses of Arts.
With rapid progress the true ton we seize,
And at Cornellys' take our high degrees.
Vauxhall, the Park, where Venus with her doves,
Sailing in æther, delegates her loves,
These are the female academic groves.
In short, down pleasure's stream we safely steer;
What can we profit by this mountaineer?”
Why, marriage is the study of our lives.
Instinctive soon unfolds the favorite thought;
The principles of genius are self-taught.
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The way to win him, and the way to rule.
Mixed with the world we learn to top our parts:
And soon we're Graduates, Mistresses of Arts.
With rapid progress the true ton we seize,
And at Cornellys' take our high degrees.
Vauxhall, the Park, where Venus with her doves,
Sailing in æther, delegates her loves,
These are the female academic groves.
In short, down pleasure's stream we safely steer;
What can we profit by this mountaineer?”
Such are the hasty sentiments of youth,
Ever impatient of a search for truth.
You we request, ere you condemn, to hear;
He who would mend your heart, deserves your ear.
One word which Harriet spoke, I own, was true;
A school our author opens somewhat new.
Something he'd alter in your education,
Something, which hurting you, must hurt a nation.
Tutored by him, you'll quit the selfish rules,
Framed to subdue, and govern, dupes, and fools:
Oft by those rules poor empire you maintain,
And oft lose husbands you should strive to gain;
You lose the wise, the generous, and the brave;
And what fair Briton would command a Slave?
Ever impatient of a search for truth.
You we request, ere you condemn, to hear;
He who would mend your heart, deserves your ear.
One word which Harriet spoke, I own, was true;
A school our author opens somewhat new.
Something he'd alter in your education,
Something, which hurting you, must hurt a nation.
Tutored by him, you'll quit the selfish rules,
Framed to subdue, and govern, dupes, and fools:
Oft by those rules poor empire you maintain,
And oft lose husbands you should strive to gain;
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And what fair Briton would command a Slave?
Ingenuous natures wish you to reclaim?
By placid virtue you'll insure your aim:
Virtue, serene, and social, and refined,
Virtue, that opens, while she guards, the mind;
That gilds with bliss the matrimonial hours,
And decks her laurel with the brightest flowers;
That feels it still her province to be gay,
And makes mankind enamoured of her sway.
By placid virtue you'll insure your aim:
Virtue, serene, and social, and refined,
Virtue, that opens, while she guards, the mind;
That gilds with bliss the matrimonial hours,
And decks her laurel with the brightest flowers;
That feels it still her province to be gay,
And makes mankind enamoured of her sway.
“Ye married fair,” deign to attend our school;
And without usurpation you shall rule;
Deign from our model to adopt your part,
And soon you'll fix the husband's vagrant heart;
Soon will he cease mean objects to pursue,
In conscience wretched till he lives to you:
Your charms will reformation's pain beguile,
And vice receive a stab from every smile.
And without usurpation you shall rule;
Deign from our model to adopt your part,
And soon you'll fix the husband's vagrant heart;
Soon will he cease mean objects to pursue,
In conscience wretched till he lives to you:
Your charms will reformation's pain beguile,
And vice receive a stab from every smile.
London, Nov. 20, 1773.
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