Poems on Several Occasions In Two Volumes. By Mr. Joseph Mitchell |
 |
| I. |
|
| I. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| A Picture of HYMEN, OR Matrimony A-la-mode:
|
 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
211
A Picture of HYMEN, OR Matrimony A-la-mode:
A TALE.
Wou'd you all your Art discover?(To a Painter said a Lover)
Draw me Hymen with the Graces,
Charming Figures! lovely Faces!
Lively! ravishing! divine!
All that's exquisitely fine!
—But, remember what I say,
As it merits I will pay.
212
And his utmost Talent tries;
Ovid o'er and o'er peruses;
Takes Advice of all the Muses;
All the Masters of Designing,
And of Colours dark and shining;
Statuaries new and old,
Famous for the Soft or Bold;
In a Word, from Death and Life,
Borrows with a generous Strife:
So Apelles form'd his Piece,
Out of all the Charms in Greece.
On the Lover's Wedding-Night,
(When Ideas of Delight
Were exalted to their Height;
Finish'd Hymen was presented—
“How it look'd! and what it wanted!
“Lord, Sir, (says the fond Bridegroom)
“Who wou'd give this Picture Room?
“Where's the Gaiety of Air?
“Je ne scai quoi, debonair?
“More than Venus and Adonis?
“Piece, that parallel'd by none is?
“Take your Daubing back again,
“Or Five Pounds, and don't complain.
(When Ideas of Delight
Were exalted to their Height;
213
“How it look'd! and what it wanted!
“Lord, Sir, (says the fond Bridegroom)
“Who wou'd give this Picture Room?
“Where's the Gaiety of Air?
“Je ne scai quoi, debonair?
“More than Venus and Adonis?
“Piece, that parallel'd by none is?
“Take your Daubing back again,
“Or Five Pounds, and don't complain.
Painter was a Man of Wit!
More than for mere Business fit!
Seem'd to be with Sorrow mov'd;
What the Lover spake approv'd;
But, withal, begg'd leave to say,
“Hymen merits better Pay,
“And will please another Day!
“For, Sir, in a few Months Space,
“Charms will rise upon that Face,
“And such Life inspire these Eyes,
“As will e'en your self surprize.
“'Twill appear in different View;
“Time improves whate'er I do.
“'Tis my Manner, Sir, I own;
“And I'm famous for it grown.
“Say you so? (reply'd the Lover)
More than for mere Business fit!
Seem'd to be with Sorrow mov'd;
What the Lover spake approv'd;
But, withal, begg'd leave to say,
“Hymen merits better Pay,
“And will please another Day!
214
“Charms will rise upon that Face,
“And such Life inspire these Eyes,
“As will e'en your self surprize.
“'Twill appear in different View;
“Time improves whate'er I do.
“'Tis my Manner, Sir, I own;
“And I'm famous for it grown.
“—But that I may Truth discover,
“Keep it by you, till you find
“Hymen alter'd to your Mind.
“I'm not urgent to be paid,
“Nor in Doubt, (the Painter said)
215
“Ere your Honey-Moon is past.
Long the Picture had not lain
Ere the Husband sent again,
Curious to behold a Change
So incredible and strange.
Back 'twas brought: “Here's nothing wanting;
“Sir, you've brought another Painting—
“Gods, what Eyes and Lips are there!
“Graceful Attitude and Air!
“Charms unnumber'd, and divine!
“Beauty exquisitely fine?
“This is Hymen.—Painter, say,
“What's the Value? Here's your Pay.
216
“'Tis too ravishingly wrought.
—Laughing then, the Painter swore,
'Twas the same he brought before.
“Change may be, Sir, in your Case,
“Hymen is the Thing he was.
—Fancy is the Lover's Cheat!
Wou'd ye prove the Pudding? Eat.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |