 | A collection of letters and state papers |  |
570
A Soliloqui in HAMLET, Imitated.
To Marry or Live single! That's the Question!
Whether 'tis happier, in the Mind to stifle,
The Heats and Tumults, of outragious Love,
Or with some prudent Fair in solemn Contract
Of Matrimony joyn? To have and hold!
No more! and in a trice to say we end.
The Heart ake, and the Thousand love sick Pains;
Which Cælibacy yields! A Consumation:
Devoutly to be wished. In Nuptial Bands
To joyn till Death dissolve ay there's the Rub,
For in that space what dull remorse may come,
When we have taken our solemn leave of Liberty,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That slacks our Speed in suing for a Change:
For who wou'd bear the Scorn and Sneers which Batchelors
When aged feel, the Pains and Fluttering fears
Which each new Face gives to the Roving lover,
When he at once, might rid himself of all
By Marriage Knot? Who cou'd with patience bear
To fret and Linger out a single Life,
But that the Dread of something yet unseen,
Some hazard in a State from whose strict Bonds
Death only can release, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others which perhaps are greater;
Thus Cool Reflection makes us Slow and Wary,
Filling the dubious Mind with dreadfull Thoughts
Of future Discords Jealousies and Costs
Extravagantly great, entail'd on Wedlock:
Which to avoid, the Lover cheeks his Passion,
And rather dies a Batchelor.
Whether 'tis happier, in the Mind to stifle,
The Heats and Tumults, of outragious Love,
Or with some prudent Fair in solemn Contract
Of Matrimony joyn? To have and hold!
No more! and in a trice to say we end.
The Heart ake, and the Thousand love sick Pains;
Which Cælibacy yields! A Consumation:
Devoutly to be wished. In Nuptial Bands
To joyn till Death dissolve ay there's the Rub,
For in that space what dull remorse may come,
When we have taken our solemn leave of Liberty,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That slacks our Speed in suing for a Change:
For who wou'd bear the Scorn and Sneers which Batchelors
When aged feel, the Pains and Fluttering fears
Which each new Face gives to the Roving lover,
When he at once, might rid himself of all
By Marriage Knot? Who cou'd with patience bear
To fret and Linger out a single Life,
But that the Dread of something yet unseen,
Some hazard in a State from whose strict Bonds
Death only can release, puzzles the will,
571
Than fly to others which perhaps are greater;
Thus Cool Reflection makes us Slow and Wary,
Filling the dubious Mind with dreadfull Thoughts
Of future Discords Jealousies and Costs
Extravagantly great, entail'd on Wedlock:
Which to avoid, the Lover cheeks his Passion,
And rather dies a Batchelor.
| A collection of letters and state papers | |