Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock Together with an Essay on the Education of the Blind. To Which is Prefixed A New Account of the Life and Writings of the Author |
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ADDRESS TO THE LADIES,
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 | Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock |  |
163
ADDRESS TO THE LADIES,
A SATIRE.
Some country-girl, scarce to a curtsey bred,
Would I much rather than Cornelia wed.
Dryden's Juvenal.
Would I much rather than Cornelia wed.
Dryden's Juvenal.
167
Inscrib'd to Miss ------
Credo pudicitiam, Saturno rege, moratam
In terris, visamque diu.——
Juv.
In terris, visamque diu.——
Juv.
In Saturn's reign, at Nature's early birth,
There was that thing call'd Chastity on earth.
Dryden.
There was that thing call'd Chastity on earth.
Dryden.
O thou, whom still in vain I must adore,
To Beauty much in debt, to Fortune more;
With wit and taste enough thy faults to hide,
To gild thy folly, and to plume thy pride;
Soon shall my heart, a rebel to thy chain,
Assert its freedom, and thy pow'r disdain.
Yet 'ere kind Fate my liberty restore,
(When twice five hundred pounds can charm no more),
For thee the Muse shall tune th' instructive lay,
And thro' the maze of life direct thy way:
The Muse, long study'd in her sex's art,
The head designing, and corrupted heart,
For thee shall sing; nor thou too rashly blame
The last faint struggles of a dying flame.
To Beauty much in debt, to Fortune more;
With wit and taste enough thy faults to hide,
To gild thy folly, and to plume thy pride;
Soon shall my heart, a rebel to thy chain,
Assert its freedom, and thy pow'r disdain.
Yet 'ere kind Fate my liberty restore,
(When twice five hundred pounds can charm no more),
For thee the Muse shall tune th' instructive lay,
And thro' the maze of life direct thy way:
The Muse, long study'd in her sex's art,
The head designing, and corrupted heart,
For thee shall sing; nor thou too rashly blame
The last faint struggles of a dying flame.
168
The maid whom Nature with maternal care
Has form'd to scatter ruin ev'ry where,
When first on life her radiant eyes she throws,
Dress, flatt'ry, pleasure, billet-doux, and beaux;
Then, conscious of her weakness, let her fly
The tender lisp, the love-illumin'd eye;
Let her alike distrust her strength and art,
And cautious to some maiden aunt impart
The important charge, her honour and her heart.
But soon the first emotions of desire
Shall with simplicity and truth retire;
The conscious tongue, inspir'd by distant views,
Its first alliance with the soul shall lose;
The blood, by candour taught before to glow;
From other motives to the cheeks shall flow;
No more shall looks her sentiments explain,
But ev'ry flexile feature learn to feign.
Then let her issue forth to open light,
In all the blaze of native beauty bright;
Insatiate, conquest let her still pursue,
Secure from harm, and destin'd to undo.
Yet while the first of public toasts she reigns,
While half the nation struggles in her chains,
If not like thee, with Fortune's bounty blest,
Let her at last resign the world to rest,
Ere Time his empire o'er her charms assume,
And tinge with fainter hue her native bloom.
Has form'd to scatter ruin ev'ry where,
When first on life her radiant eyes she throws,
Dress, flatt'ry, pleasure, billet-doux, and beaux;
Then, conscious of her weakness, let her fly
The tender lisp, the love-illumin'd eye;
Let her alike distrust her strength and art,
And cautious to some maiden aunt impart
The important charge, her honour and her heart.
But soon the first emotions of desire
Shall with simplicity and truth retire;
The conscious tongue, inspir'd by distant views,
Its first alliance with the soul shall lose;
The blood, by candour taught before to glow;
From other motives to the cheeks shall flow;
No more shall looks her sentiments explain,
But ev'ry flexile feature learn to feign.
Then let her issue forth to open light,
In all the blaze of native beauty bright;
Insatiate, conquest let her still pursue,
Secure from harm, and destin'd to undo.
Yet while the first of public toasts she reigns,
While half the nation struggles in her chains,
If not like thee, with Fortune's bounty blest,
Let her at last resign the world to rest,
Ere Time his empire o'er her charms assume,
And tinge with fainter hue her native bloom.
169
In vernal youth, and beauty's gayest pride,
The charming Flavia thus becomes a bride.
For what bless'd youth, O Muse, with truth declare,
Could Fate reserve the conquest of the fair?
To what resistless art, what charms divine,
What soft address, could she her heart resign?
Did youth, good-nature, sense, inflict the wound?
“No—peevish seventy with five thousand pound.”
Hail holy ties! by wond'rous charms endear'd,
The paralytic nerve, and hoary beard.
What mighty joys must bless such equal love,
When hand in hand gay Spring and Winter move?
Beneath the specious semblance of a wife
She flaunts a licens'd prostitute for life.
Why all this hurry? Flavia was afraid
Her fame should wither, or her beauty fade.
The charming Flavia thus becomes a bride.
For what bless'd youth, O Muse, with truth declare,
Could Fate reserve the conquest of the fair?
To what resistless art, what charms divine,
What soft address, could she her heart resign?
Did youth, good-nature, sense, inflict the wound?
“No—peevish seventy with five thousand pound.”
Hail holy ties! by wond'rous charms endear'd,
The paralytic nerve, and hoary beard.
What mighty joys must bless such equal love,
When hand in hand gay Spring and Winter move?
Beneath the specious semblance of a wife
She flaunts a licens'd prostitute for life.
Why all this hurry? Flavia was afraid
Her fame should wither, or her beauty fade.
Favour'd of Heav'n, far happier stars are thine;
Long as thy wish shall thy meridian shine,
In youth or age still certain to command,
And see thy bloom coeval with thy land.
Long as thy wish shall thy meridian shine,
In youth or age still certain to command,
And see thy bloom coeval with thy land.
There is a time, to all the sex well known,
When 'tis a wretched thing to be alone;
When pregnant Night with ghosts and spectres teems,
And sportive fairies prompt tumultuous dreams;
Then, tho' no lower wish thy breast inflame,
Though spotless be thy fancy as thy name,
In solitary fears no longer pine,
But to protecting man thy charms resign.
When 'tis a wretched thing to be alone;
When pregnant Night with ghosts and spectres teems,
And sportive fairies prompt tumultuous dreams;
Then, tho' no lower wish thy breast inflame,
Though spotless be thy fancy as thy name,
170
But to protecting man thy charms resign.
And now, before the raptur'd swain should cloy
With known embraces, and repeated joy;
Now is the time thy wit, thy pow'rs to strain,
And tease him still some fav'rite boon to gain.
Now with eternal tempest stun his ears,
Now vary all the scene with fits and tears;
Now (pleas'd to view vicissitudes of pain,
To view thy tyranny new force obtain)
To all his tender arts and soft pursuit
Still be thy tongue inexorably mute.
With known embraces, and repeated joy;
Now is the time thy wit, thy pow'rs to strain,
And tease him still some fav'rite boon to gain.
Now with eternal tempest stun his ears,
Now vary all the scene with fits and tears;
Now (pleas'd to view vicissitudes of pain,
To view thy tyranny new force obtain)
To all his tender arts and soft pursuit
Still be thy tongue inexorably mute.
Nor yet thy plagues to one alone confine,
Portending public ruin comets shine;
Angle for hearts, and when you catch the prey,
Long on the line your foolish captive play.
Portending public ruin comets shine;
Angle for hearts, and when you catch the prey,
Long on the line your foolish captive play.
But should thy fond, officious fool be near,
With jealous looks, and with attentive ear;
Should he on ev'ry private hour intrude,
And watch those pleasures he was meant to shroud;
With all thy skill his jealous rage ferment,
The look inviting, and the soft complaint;
With equal favour ev'ry lover bless,
The gentle whisper, and the fond caress;
Till the weak dupe, in every tender sense,
Feels, more than hell, the torture of suspense.
Then if he dares to murmur at his fate,
Tell him with smiles, repentance is too late.
But if, with haughty tone, and lordly pride,
He dictates serious rules thy life to guide;
With weeping eyes, and melting sounds, regret
The destin'd sorrows which on woman wait;
To tyrant man subjected during life,
A wretched daughter, and more wretched wife;
Alike unbless'd, whate'er her form inspire,
Licentious ridicule, or low desire;
She pines away a life to bliss unknown;
A slave to ev'ry humour but her own;
While with despotic nod, and watchful gaze,
Her jealous master all her steps surveys:
With strict reserve each lover if she treat,
Then all her portion is contempt or hate;
But if more free she spend the cheerful day
Among the witty, innocent, and gay,
From all her hopes domestic pleasure flies,
Suspicion breathes, and lo! her honour dies.
Such cruel stars on woman still attend,
And couldst thou hope their fury to suspend?
With jealous looks, and with attentive ear;
Should he on ev'ry private hour intrude,
And watch those pleasures he was meant to shroud;
With all thy skill his jealous rage ferment,
The look inviting, and the soft complaint;
With equal favour ev'ry lover bless,
The gentle whisper, and the fond caress;
Till the weak dupe, in every tender sense,
Feels, more than hell, the torture of suspense.
171
Tell him with smiles, repentance is too late.
But if, with haughty tone, and lordly pride,
He dictates serious rules thy life to guide;
With weeping eyes, and melting sounds, regret
The destin'd sorrows which on woman wait;
To tyrant man subjected during life,
A wretched daughter, and more wretched wife;
Alike unbless'd, whate'er her form inspire,
Licentious ridicule, or low desire;
She pines away a life to bliss unknown;
A slave to ev'ry humour but her own;
While with despotic nod, and watchful gaze,
Her jealous master all her steps surveys:
With strict reserve each lover if she treat,
Then all her portion is contempt or hate;
But if more free she spend the cheerful day
Among the witty, innocent, and gay,
From all her hopes domestic pleasure flies,
Suspicion breathes, and lo! her honour dies.
Such cruel stars on woman still attend,
And couldst thou hope their fury to suspend?
Perhaps some lover may thy soul inflame,
For nature in each bosom is the same;
Then, but by slow degrees, his fate decide,
And gratify at once thy love and pride.
For love and pride, beneath each dark disguise,
Heave in your breast, and sparkle in your eyes:
Howe'er your sex in chastity pretend
To hate the lover, but admire the friend,
Desires more warm their natal throne maintain,
Platonic passions only reach the brain.
For nature in each bosom is the same;
Then, but by slow degrees, his fate decide,
And gratify at once thy love and pride.
For love and pride, beneath each dark disguise,
Heave in your breast, and sparkle in your eyes:
172
To hate the lover, but admire the friend,
Desires more warm their natal throne maintain,
Platonic passions only reach the brain.
Though in the cloyster's secret cell immur'd
By bolts, by ev'ry name in heaven secur'd;
Though in the close seraglio's walls confin'd;
Ev'n there your fancy riots on mankind:
Your persons may be fix'd, your forms recluse
While minds are faithless, and while thoughts are loose.
By bolts, by ev'ry name in heaven secur'd;
Though in the close seraglio's walls confin'd;
Ev'n there your fancy riots on mankind:
Your persons may be fix'd, your forms recluse
While minds are faithless, and while thoughts are loose.
Should Love at last (whom has not Love subdu'd?)
Full on thy sense some killing form obtrude;
O! then beware, nor with a lavish hand
Too promptly offer, ere thy swain demand.
Our mothers, great in virtues as in crimes,
Disdain'd the venal spirit of our times:
Vice, oft repell'd, their stubborn hearts essay'd;
But if at last their yielding soul she sway'd,
Nor hopes, nor fears, nor int'rest could restrain,
Heav'n charm'd, hell threaten'd, av'rice brib'd in vain.
Fools they, and folly's common lot they shar'd,
Instinct their guide, and pleasure their reward:
Their wiser race pursue a happier scheme,
Pleasure their instrument, and wealth their aim;
Nor maid, nor wife, unbrib'd her heart bestows,
Each dart is tipp'd with gold which Cupid throws.
Full on thy sense some killing form obtrude;
O! then beware, nor with a lavish hand
Too promptly offer, ere thy swain demand.
Our mothers, great in virtues as in crimes,
Disdain'd the venal spirit of our times:
Vice, oft repell'd, their stubborn hearts essay'd;
But if at last their yielding soul she sway'd,
Nor hopes, nor fears, nor int'rest could restrain,
Heav'n charm'd, hell threaten'd, av'rice brib'd in vain.
Fools they, and folly's common lot they shar'd,
Instinct their guide, and pleasure their reward:
Their wiser race pursue a happier scheme,
Pleasure their instrument, and wealth their aim;
Nor maid, nor wife, unbrib'd her heart bestows,
Each dart is tipp'd with gold which Cupid throws.
173
Thus should the dice invite thy ventrous hand,
Or debts of honour fresh supplies demand;
Should china, monkeys, gems thy heart engage,
The gilded coach, or liv'ry'd equipage;
Half meet; half shun his wish; nor free, nor nice;
Delay the pleasure, to inhance the price.
Or debts of honour fresh supplies demand;
Should china, monkeys, gems thy heart engage,
The gilded coach, or liv'ry'd equipage;
Half meet; half shun his wish; nor free, nor nice;
Delay the pleasure, to inhance the price.
While Night o'er heav'n and earth extends her shade,
And darker female cunning lends its aid,
Then, but with art, thy schemes of pleasure lay,
Lest Argus with his hundred eyes survey:
For gales officious ev'ry whisper bear,
Each room has echoes, and each wall an ear.
Yet Jealousy, oft fann'd with opiate airs,
Her charge abandons, and forgets her cares;
While Love awake exerts his happy pow'r,
And consecrates to joy the fated hour.
And darker female cunning lends its aid,
Then, but with art, thy schemes of pleasure lay,
Lest Argus with his hundred eyes survey:
For gales officious ev'ry whisper bear,
Each room has echoes, and each wall an ear.
Yet Jealousy, oft fann'd with opiate airs,
Her charge abandons, and forgets her cares;
While Love awake exerts his happy pow'r,
And consecrates to joy the fated hour.
That well-concerted plans command success,
Learn from Timandra's fortune, and confess.
The clock strikes ten, in vain Timandra mourns,
Supper is serv'd, no husband yet returns.
Not yet return'd! Good heav'n avert my fear;
What unforeseen mischance detains my dear?
Perhaps in some dark alley, by surprise,
Beneath a villain's arm he murder'd lies;
Or by some apoplectic fit deprest,
Perhaps, alas! he seeks eternal rest,
Whilst I an early widow mourn in vain:
Haste! fly, ye slaves, restore my lord again!
She spoke, she shriek'd aloud, she rung the bell,
The senseless, lifeless, on the couch she fell.
Say, Muse; for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view,
Nor hell's deep track; say, what could then ensue?
Learn from Timandra's fortune, and confess.
The clock strikes ten, in vain Timandra mourns,
Supper is serv'd, no husband yet returns.
Not yet return'd! Good heav'n avert my fear;
What unforeseen mischance detains my dear?
Perhaps in some dark alley, by surprise,
Beneath a villain's arm he murder'd lies;
Or by some apoplectic fit deprest,
Perhaps, alas! he seeks eternal rest,
174
Haste! fly, ye slaves, restore my lord again!
She spoke, she shriek'd aloud, she rung the bell,
The senseless, lifeless, on the couch she fell.
Say, Muse; for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view,
Nor hell's deep track; say, what could then ensue?
Lorenzo, touch'd with sympathy divine,
Heard the shrill sound, and recognis'd the sign;
He came, he spoke, and if report say true,
Her life rekindled, and her fears withdrew.
The lover vanish'd, and the tumult past,
The unsuspecting husband came at last;
The spouse with equal joy his transports crown'd,
Nor on her lips were Cassio's kisses found.
Heard the shrill sound, and recognis'd the sign;
He came, he spoke, and if report say true,
Her life rekindled, and her fears withdrew.
The lover vanish'd, and the tumult past,
The unsuspecting husband came at last;
The spouse with equal joy his transports crown'd,
Nor on her lips were Cassio's kisses found.
Let Scandal next no slight attention share,
Scandal, the fav'rite science of the fair,
O'er which her fancy broods the summer-day,
And scheming wastes the midnight-taper's ray;
The laugh significant, the biting jest,
The whisper loud, the sentence half supprest,
The seeming pity for another's fame,
To praise with coldness, or with caution blame;
Still shall thy malice by those arts succeed,
And ev'ry hour a reputation bleed.
Thus shall thy words, thy looks, thy silence wound,
And plagues be wafted in each whisper round.
Scandal, the fav'rite science of the fair,
O'er which her fancy broods the summer-day,
And scheming wastes the midnight-taper's ray;
The laugh significant, the biting jest,
The whisper loud, the sentence half supprest,
The seeming pity for another's fame,
To praise with coldness, or with caution blame;
Still shall thy malice by those arts succeed,
And ev'ry hour a reputation bleed.
Thus shall thy words, thy looks, thy silence wound,
And plagues be wafted in each whisper round.
175
Nor on these topics long let Fancy dwell;
In one unite the pedant and the belle:
With learned jargon, ever misapply'd,
Harangue, illustrate, criticise, decide.
For in our days, to gain a sage's name,
We need not plod for sense, but banish shame:
'Tis this which opens every fair-one's eyes,
Religion, sense, and reason to despise;
'Tis thus their thoughts affected freedom boast,
And laugh at God, yet tremble at a ghost.
Truth is the object of each common view,
The gazing crowd her naked beauties woo;
The fair such manners scorn, but, brave and free,
Are damn'd for sacred singularity.
In one unite the pedant and the belle:
With learned jargon, ever misapply'd,
Harangue, illustrate, criticise, decide.
For in our days, to gain a sage's name,
We need not plod for sense, but banish shame:
'Tis this which opens every fair-one's eyes,
Religion, sense, and reason to despise;
'Tis thus their thoughts affected freedom boast,
And laugh at God, yet tremble at a ghost.
Truth is the object of each common view,
The gazing crowd her naked beauties woo;
The fair such manners scorn, but, brave and free,
Are damn'd for sacred singularity.
Thee with a mother's name should Fortune grace,
And propagate thy vices in thy race,
Let whim, not reason, all thy conduct guide,
And not the parent, but the rod, preside:
In all thy steps each wide extreme unite,
Capricious tenderness, or groundless spite.
Hence future ages shall with triumph see
Bridewell and Tyburn both enrich'd by thee.
To this our lives their hapless tenor owe,
Ting'd with the poison'd source from whence they flow.
Ah! me, had gracious Heav'n alone consign'd
A prey to burning wrath your worthless kind;
Or had the first fair she, to hell ally'd,
Creation's sole reproach, curs'd Heav'n and dy'd;
Nor introduc'd in Nature's faultless frame
The wretched heritage of guilt and shame.
Such the maternal pledges you bestow,
Expressive earnests of eternal woe.
And propagate thy vices in thy race,
Let whim, not reason, all thy conduct guide,
And not the parent, but the rod, preside:
In all thy steps each wide extreme unite,
Capricious tenderness, or groundless spite.
Hence future ages shall with triumph see
Bridewell and Tyburn both enrich'd by thee.
To this our lives their hapless tenor owe,
Ting'd with the poison'd source from whence they flow.
Ah! me, had gracious Heav'n alone consign'd
A prey to burning wrath your worthless kind;
Or had the first fair she, to hell ally'd,
Creation's sole reproach, curs'd Heav'n and dy'd;
176
The wretched heritage of guilt and shame.
Such the maternal pledges you bestow,
Expressive earnests of eternal woe.
Still as a constant curse regard thy home,
Thy pleasure's penance, and thy beauty's tomb;
Now mad with rage, now languishing with spleen,
There still in wretched dishabile be seen:
Long let thy nail its polish'd jet extend,
Around thy neck thy greasy locks descend;
And round thee, mingling in one spicy gale,
Kitchen and nurs'ry all their sweets exhale.
Thy pleasure's penance, and thy beauty's tomb;
Now mad with rage, now languishing with spleen,
There still in wretched dishabile be seen:
Long let thy nail its polish'd jet extend,
Around thy neck thy greasy locks descend;
And round thee, mingling in one spicy gale,
Kitchen and nurs'ry all their sweets exhale.
But if in more extensive spheres you move,
With all the glare of dress your form improve;
To aid its pomp let either India join,
Nor once reflect at whose expence you shine;
New airs, new fashions, new complexions try,
While paint and affectation can supply.
For Heav'n and Nature, uniform, and old,
One settled course in each production hold;
But belles, by native genius taught to please,
Correct their Maker's want of taste with ease.
With all the glare of dress your form improve;
To aid its pomp let either India join,
Nor once reflect at whose expence you shine;
New airs, new fashions, new complexions try,
While paint and affectation can supply.
For Heav'n and Nature, uniform, and old,
One settled course in each production hold;
But belles, by native genius taught to please,
Correct their Maker's want of taste with ease.
But why this hasty rage, this sudden fright?
I meant to counsel, and you say I bite.
Ah! no; Heav'n knows 'twas far from my intent;
The world's too much a sinner to repent:
By its example taught, I change my view.
And swear the fair are right whate'er they do.
I meant to counsel, and you say I bite.
Ah! no; Heav'n knows 'twas far from my intent;
The world's too much a sinner to repent:
By its example taught, I change my view.
And swear the fair are right whate'er they do.
| Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock | |