Nuptial Dialogues and Debates Or, An Useful Prospect of the felicities and discomforts of a marry'd life, Incident to all Degrees, from the Throne to the Cottage. Containing, Many great Examples of Love, Piety, Prudence, Justice, and all the excellent Vertues, that largely contribute to the true Happiness of Wedlock. Drawn from the Lives of our own Princes, Nobility, and other Quality, in Prosperity and Adversity. Also the fantastical Humours of all Fops, Coquets, Bullies, Jilts, fond Fools, and Wantons; old Fumblers, barren Ladies, Misers, parsimonious Wives, Ninnies, Sluts and Termagants; drunken Husbands, toaping Gossips, schismatical Precisians, and devout Hypocrites of all sorts. Digested into serious, merry, and satyrical Poems, wherein both Sexes, in all Stations, are reminded of their Duty, and taught how to be happy in a Matrimonial State. In Two Volumes. By the Author of the London Spy [i.e. Edward Ward] |
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| III. | DIALOGUE III. Between an unfortunate Nobleman and his beautiful Lady,
who had surrender'd her Charms to the Caresses of her Sovereign.
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| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
 | Nuptial Dialogues and Debates |  |
DIALOGUE III. Between an unfortunate Nobleman and his beautiful Lady, who had surrender'd her Charms to the Caresses of her Sovereign.
Lord.Bane of my Life, once Object of my Joys,
Who'd Pow'r to bless, but now has curs'd my Choice;
Charming in Feature, of an awful Mein,
Without an Angel, but a Dev'l within;
Beauteous but Lustful, Gen'rous not Good,
Modest in publick, but in private lewd.
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Why so deprav'd, and with such Graces blest?
How could a Lady, so devoutly bred,
Be tempted to defile her Marriage-bed?
Why to your Husband would you prove unjust,
And shame yourself to please a Monarch's Lust?
Why would you make such Charms your Prince's Sport,
To be a false, tho' glitt'ring, Lamp at Court?
When if you'd sav'd your Honour, you had been,
Altho' a Subject, greater than a Queen;
For had such Beauty been with Vertue join'd,
Both had the Lustre of a Crown out-shin'd;
But now, alass, dark lustful Clouds arise,
Obscure your Brightness, and eclipse your Eyes.
Your odious Guilt your Female Charms debase,
Your sinful Deeds your Quality disgrace,
And cast a nauseous Mist all o'er your lovely Face.
Why, therefore, would you play such wanton Freaks,
And with adult'rous Blushes stain your Cheeks?
Why thus become a Paramour of State,
To only be more titularly Great.
Lady.
What Woman can resist a King's Amours?
Or who refuse what Majesty implores?
What Female Subject durst to disapprove?
Or give Resistance to a Monarch's Love?
What they command, our wisest Teachers say,
We're strictly bound in Duty to obey;
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Are base, unjust, and sinful in the Act,
The Sin's not ours, because we don't deny,
But theirs, whose Powr can force us to comply.
How then can I his Royal Will withstand
Who stoop'd to beg what Princes might command?
Besides, when Love, that Tyrant, has possest
A spiteful Monarch, and inflam'd his Breast,
What beauteous Object of his am'rous Grief
Would venture to deny a King Relief,
And hazard that Revenge her Slights may find,
Rather than strain her Vertue to be kind?
Woman, tho' ne'er so chaste, in such a case,
May sooth his Passion, and thro' Fear transgress,
Because in Love 'tis safer to engage,
Than run the Hazard of a Prince's Rage:
When sov'rign Pow'r attacks, we cannot fly,
The want of Courage makes the Fair comply.
Lord.
These are dark Arguments the am'rous feign,
T'excuse the lustful Habits they retain.
The faithless Wife by Nature is a Jilt,
And never wants a Plea to sooth her Guilt.
Woman debauch'd, tho' she approves the Sin,
Reflects the Blame on those that drew her in;
And tho' she seeks the Pleasure that she loves,
Would fain be thought more modest than she proves.
Had Graee and Duty influenc'd your Mind,
And your soft Youth to Vertue been inclin'd,
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Your Charms had fann'd the Fire of Royal Lust,
And that your Prince was eagerly design'd
To tempt you by his Flatt'ries to be kind,
You shou'd have then from Court your Smiles withdrawn
When his false Love was in its early dawn;
For 'tis a Maxim that does seldom miss,
Remove the Cause, and the Effect will cease.
Instead of that, forgetful of the Shame,
You fann'd his Lust, and glory'd in his Flame,
With equal Passion met his warm Embrace,
And turn'd upon him in his am'rous Chase,
Stop'd his Pursuit, receiv'd him in your Arms,
And bid the Monarch welcome to your Charms.
Lady.
When Woman finds she must at last comply,
'Tis better early to be free than shy:
A Gen'rous Freedom to a Gen'rous Mind,
Shews Love instead of Int'rest makes us kind,
Doubles a Prince's Passion by Surprise,
And makes his Bounty equal to his Joys;
When she that's conquer'd by a seeming Force,
And when she rises counterfeits Remorse,
Thinks by false Tears t'extenuate her Guilt,
Loses her Aim, and for the Drops she'as spilt,
Is always constru'd but the greater Jilt.
Suppose, to shew my Vertue, I had fled
From Court, and had despis'd a Monarch's Bed,
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If a King's Love deserves so bad a Name;
Such Provocations might have work'd a Change,
And turn'd his Passion into dire Revenge;
Th'Effect of such a pow'rful Lovers Wrath,
Might still have prov'd more fatal to us both;
For she who wins a Monarch by her Charms,
And flies his Presence to escape his Arms,
Be she a beauteous Virgin or a Wife,
Conspires against his Ease, if not his Life;
And should a Husband's Counsel be the Cause
That the King's Fav'rite from his Court withdraws,
The slighted Monarch, full of Love and Rage,
May bring them both upon the fatal Stage;
For Kings, whose Love does into Fury change,
Ne'er want a Plot to satiate their Revenge:
Therefore 'twas Prudence rather to submit,
Than run the Risque of an obscure Retreat;
And better far for you to be content,
Than clamour at those Wrongs you can't prevent.
Who would not such a small Affront disdain,
Sooner than grin, and shew his Teeth in vain,
Forget the Pleasures of his Nuptial Bed,
And lose a Wife much rather than his Head.
Reflect not on my Failings, but desist,
And of two Evils wisely chuse the least.
Lord.
'Tis hard you should your Nuptial Contract break,
And I that am thus injur'd fear to speak:
Your Threat'nings shew how you approve your Vice,
And that you made your sinful Shame your Choice.
I know too well that I am not secure,
Princes in Love no Rivals can endure;
Th'approaching Danger does, alas, appear,
I see my End, or my Confinement near.
Ills always are by greater Ills pursu'd,
Adult'ry is too oft confirm'd with Blood:
The lustful King, that basely does invade
The Nuptial Pleasures of a Subjects Bed,
By some Pretence the Cuckold should destroy,
For fear Revenge should reach him in his Joy.
Or force his injur'd Rival, by Command,
On pain of Death, to quit his Native Land.
Since you have thus your Marriage-Vows transgrest,
I know my Fate will be but hard at best.
And I that am thus injur'd fear to speak:
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And that you made your sinful Shame your Choice.
I know too well that I am not secure,
Princes in Love no Rivals can endure;
Th'approaching Danger does, alas, appear,
I see my End, or my Confinement near.
Ills always are by greater Ills pursu'd,
Adult'ry is too oft confirm'd with Blood:
The lustful King, that basely does invade
The Nuptial Pleasures of a Subjects Bed,
By some Pretence the Cuckold should destroy,
For fear Revenge should reach him in his Joy.
Or force his injur'd Rival, by Command,
On pain of Death, to quit his Native Land.
Since you have thus your Marriage-Vows transgrest,
I know my Fate will be but hard at best.
O faithless Woman, thus at once to blast
My Joys, and all my future hopes o'ercast:
By thee to lasting Mis'ries I'm betray'd,
By thee my Life one settl'd Storm is made,
By thy Desertion am I dispossest
Of all the Comforts that enrich'd my Breast.
Curs'd be the Tyrant that invades my Right,
May anxious Thoughts torment him Day and Night,
May none but Fools and Rebels guard his Throne,
By Whores be beggar'd, and by Knaves undone:
May he be punish'd by a Bastard-Race,
And not one lawful Son his Palace grace:
May he starve Merit, and ungrateful prove
To all his Friends that have deserv'd his Love:
May he be only Generous and Free,
To mercenary Jilts, more lewd than thee;
Give all to those who study his Disgrace,
Till grown as poor as they are false and base:
And when he'as thus exhausted all his Store,,
May Parliaments refuse to give him more:
May all his Whores be false to his Embrace,
And fill his Court with a rebellious Race,
May they be kindest to his greatest Foes,
And all his Secrets in their Arms disclose:
May treach'rous Knaves into his Treasure dive,
Himself grow needy, whilst his Harlots thrive:
May only Pimps and Flatt'rers have his Ear,
Till he becomes a Prince without a Peer,
Be made the common Subject of Lampoon,
Till ridicul'd by all the Fops in Town:
May Fears and Jealousies perplex his Days,
And ev'ry Jilt he keeps become a Lais:
May groundless Plots turmoil his harass'd Reign,
And hard-mouth'd Villains publick Credit gain,
Amuse his Kingdom with prepost'rous Lies,
And make his People think him weak, tho' wise:
May he commence more Debts than he can pay,
Till Duns and Murmurs plague him ev'ry Day:
May he to kiss the City Wives descend,
And of their Husbands borrow Sums to spend,
Thus chouse the wealthy Cuckolds of the Change,
Till the horn'd Crew turn Rebels thro' Revenge.
In this Condition let him Live and Reign,
Till his Strength fails him and his Lusts remain,
Then may he give up the Supream Command,
And die a Beggar in a wealthy Land.
My Joys, and all my future hopes o'ercast:
By thee to lasting Mis'ries I'm betray'd,
By thee my Life one settl'd Storm is made,
By thy Desertion am I dispossest
Of all the Comforts that enrich'd my Breast.
Curs'd be the Tyrant that invades my Right,
May anxious Thoughts torment him Day and Night,
May none but Fools and Rebels guard his Throne,
By Whores be beggar'd, and by Knaves undone:
May he be punish'd by a Bastard-Race,
And not one lawful Son his Palace grace:
May he starve Merit, and ungrateful prove
To all his Friends that have deserv'd his Love:
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To mercenary Jilts, more lewd than thee;
Give all to those who study his Disgrace,
Till grown as poor as they are false and base:
And when he'as thus exhausted all his Store,,
May Parliaments refuse to give him more:
May all his Whores be false to his Embrace,
And fill his Court with a rebellious Race,
May they be kindest to his greatest Foes,
And all his Secrets in their Arms disclose:
May treach'rous Knaves into his Treasure dive,
Himself grow needy, whilst his Harlots thrive:
May only Pimps and Flatt'rers have his Ear,
Till he becomes a Prince without a Peer,
Be made the common Subject of Lampoon,
Till ridicul'd by all the Fops in Town:
May Fears and Jealousies perplex his Days,
And ev'ry Jilt he keeps become a Lais:
May groundless Plots turmoil his harass'd Reign,
And hard-mouth'd Villains publick Credit gain,
Amuse his Kingdom with prepost'rous Lies,
And make his People think him weak, tho' wise:
May he commence more Debts than he can pay,
Till Duns and Murmurs plague him ev'ry Day:
May he to kiss the City Wives descend,
And of their Husbands borrow Sums to spend,
Thus chouse the wealthy Cuckolds of the Change,
Till the horn'd Crew turn Rebels thro' Revenge.
In this Condition let him Live and Reign,
Till his Strength fails him and his Lusts remain,
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And die a Beggar in a wealthy Land.
As for your Part, may your adult'rous Charms
Prove false and treach'rous to his lustful Arms,
Till by himself detected in your Guilt,
And manifestly prov'd an arrant Jilt,
In Indignation from his Bed be thrown,
And made the common Jest of all the Town.
May that sweet Beauty, which you now can boast,
Be render'd nauseous by your shameful Lust:
May your wild Fancy range the publick Fairs,
And fix on Dancers of the Ropes and Play'rs,
Betray your Charms into the Arms of Slaves,
Till scoff'd by Scoundrels, and misus'd by Knaves.
Thus may you live at large, profusely lewd,
And never entertain one Thought of Good;
Despis'd by th'Issue of your Monarch's Loins,
Who owe their Birth to your adult'rous Sins.
When wither'd grown, with batter'd Beaus engage,
Be doom'd the only Lais of the Age,
And forc'd to herd with Strumpets of the Stage.
Prove false and treach'rous to his lustful Arms,
Till by himself detected in your Guilt,
And manifestly prov'd an arrant Jilt,
In Indignation from his Bed be thrown,
And made the common Jest of all the Town.
May that sweet Beauty, which you now can boast,
Be render'd nauseous by your shameful Lust:
May your wild Fancy range the publick Fairs,
And fix on Dancers of the Ropes and Play'rs,
Betray your Charms into the Arms of Slaves,
Till scoff'd by Scoundrels, and misus'd by Knaves.
Thus may you live at large, profusely lewd,
And never entertain one Thought of Good;
Despis'd by th'Issue of your Monarch's Loins,
Who owe their Birth to your adult'rous Sins.
When wither'd grown, with batter'd Beaus engage,
Be doom'd the only Lais of the Age,
And forc'd to herd with Strumpets of the Stage.
Lady.
Thank ye, my Lord, 'tis nobly wish'd, I'll swear,
But Heav'ns too good to hear so vile a Pray'r:
I thank my Stars I now am plac'd above
The Fury of your poor revengeful Love.
I have a Monarch now to stand my Friend,
And you had best take care how you offend.
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What you deem shameful I shall still pursue,
And will obey my Prince, superior of the two.
| Nuptial Dialogues and Debates | |