 | Poems on several occasions |  |
TO MR. BOURNE, ON HIS MARRIAGE.
Ere yet your look'd-for nuptials did appear,
You shunn'd the greeting of a friend sincere.
Accept it now; or must it be my fate
To speak too early and to write too late?
Yet, sure, if joys outlast the honey-moon,
It is not now too late, though then too soon.
You shunn'd the greeting of a friend sincere.
Accept it now; or must it be my fate
To speak too early and to write too late?
Yet, sure, if joys outlast the honey-moon,
It is not now too late, though then too soon.
Hail, friend! a husband and a master grown,
The house and house's mistress now your own.
Resistless love all stops can overthrow,
And break the barriers of a widow's “No.”
Love, if with wisdom join'd, your days will bless
With long, well-grounded, serious happiness;
From usual change preserve your earthly state;
And what at first was fortune, fix to fate.
'Tis true, mankind must bear their share of woe,
Nor perfect Eden can be found below:
But love, the balm of life, there yet remains,
Our joys to heighten and assuage our pains.
Of all pursuits that lure a mortal's eyes,
The gay, the grave, the foolish, and the wise,
Two things alone a just concern can move,
As worth our notice,—piety, and love.
Your first chief care religion's laws embrace;
And love should always hold the second place.
The house and house's mistress now your own.
Resistless love all stops can overthrow,
And break the barriers of a widow's “No.”
Love, if with wisdom join'd, your days will bless
With long, well-grounded, serious happiness;
401
And what at first was fortune, fix to fate.
'Tis true, mankind must bear their share of woe,
Nor perfect Eden can be found below:
But love, the balm of life, there yet remains,
Our joys to heighten and assuage our pains.
Of all pursuits that lure a mortal's eyes,
The gay, the grave, the foolish, and the wise,
Two things alone a just concern can move,
As worth our notice,—piety, and love.
Your first chief care religion's laws embrace;
And love should always hold the second place.
By right divine, by love and prudence sway,
And grant her every reason to obey.
From each vain shadow of resistance free,
O may she still a Tory prove to thee!
Let low-born pairs in storms and thunder meet,
When vulgar scolding shakes the narrow street:
Let the shrill fish-wife ply her nimble tongue,
Or the tough cobbler exercise his thong.
Where mean the conquest, odious is the strife:
A wife to beat is the worst shame in life,—
Except the being beaten by a wife.
And grant her every reason to obey.
From each vain shadow of resistance free,
O may she still a Tory prove to thee!
Let low-born pairs in storms and thunder meet,
When vulgar scolding shakes the narrow street:
Let the shrill fish-wife ply her nimble tongue,
Or the tough cobbler exercise his thong.
Where mean the conquest, odious is the strife:
A wife to beat is the worst shame in life,—
Except the being beaten by a wife.
If petty jars through human frailty rise,
Avoid objections keen and smart replies.
With reason, not with wit, the cause maintain;
Your words be grave and few, and full and plain.
Still on one single point your view be placed,
Nor raise your present feud by quarrels past;
Much less suspicious of the future grow,
Or prophesy unkindly coming woe.
No galling hint departing strife revive:
Let both forget it, and let both forgive.
Poor Eve found favour in her Adam's eyes,
Though by his wife he lost his Paradise:
Else God this lower world in vain had given,
Nor human offspring had re-peopled heaven.
Avoid objections keen and smart replies.
With reason, not with wit, the cause maintain;
Your words be grave and few, and full and plain.
Still on one single point your view be placed,
Nor raise your present feud by quarrels past;
402
Or prophesy unkindly coming woe.
No galling hint departing strife revive:
Let both forget it, and let both forgive.
Poor Eve found favour in her Adam's eyes,
Though by his wife he lost his Paradise:
Else God this lower world in vain had given,
Nor human offspring had re-peopled heaven.
Open, in full proportion to your store,
Your bounteous heart and hospitable door.
Nor e'er to serve your need exactly aim:
'Tis always needful to secure your fame.
Wealth is the means of life, and not the end;
And who deserves it, shares it with his friend.
O may not gold, according to its kind,
Twist round your heart, and grow upon your mind!
Should e'er your soul stoop to so poor a vice,
That paltry crime of Dutchmen, avarice;
To heap up treasure may you then go on,
Wealthy as Harcourt grow, without a son;
Or, Heaven's high wrath more plainly to declare,
Have Walpole's riches, and have Walpole's heir.
Your bounteous heart and hospitable door.
Nor e'er to serve your need exactly aim:
'Tis always needful to secure your fame.
Wealth is the means of life, and not the end;
And who deserves it, shares it with his friend.
O may not gold, according to its kind,
Twist round your heart, and grow upon your mind!
Should e'er your soul stoop to so poor a vice,
That paltry crime of Dutchmen, avarice;
To heap up treasure may you then go on,
Wealthy as Harcourt grow, without a son;
Or, Heaven's high wrath more plainly to declare,
Have Walpole's riches, and have Walpole's heir.
Your hopes and fears when children shall employ,
Whom all desire, but few aright enjoy;
Health, more than beauty, bless the rising brood;
Rather than witty, be they wise and good.
Pledges of love O may they ever be,
Nor sow the seeds of household-enmity!
No favourite son so great a darling prove,
His sire to rival in his mother's love:
No daughter fair in bloom of beauty rise,
To' outshine her mother in her father's eyes.
May no domestic rebels plead their cause
With tacit compact and with nature's laws;—
As though the British embryo scorn'd to come,
Except by covenant, from his mother's womb;—
Define with nicest art tyrannic sway;
Point out to glorious liberty the way,
How often to resist, how rarely to obey;
Dispute the parent's privilege every hour,
Till their discretion swallows up your power.
Whom all desire, but few aright enjoy;
Health, more than beauty, bless the rising brood;
Rather than witty, be they wise and good.
Pledges of love O may they ever be,
Nor sow the seeds of household-enmity!
No favourite son so great a darling prove,
His sire to rival in his mother's love:
403
To' outshine her mother in her father's eyes.
May no domestic rebels plead their cause
With tacit compact and with nature's laws;—
As though the British embryo scorn'd to come,
Except by covenant, from his mother's womb;—
Define with nicest art tyrannic sway;
Point out to glorious liberty the way,
How often to resist, how rarely to obey;
Dispute the parent's privilege every hour,
Till their discretion swallows up your power.
Long may you love, in union strict combined
As that whose knot your soul and body join'd;
No time, no chance the dear affection part,
While kindly life-blood flows around the heart;
While new endearments, new desires engage,
And mock the sure approach of coming age.
Marriage that ancient quarrel can remove
Betwixt grave wisdom and ecstatic love:
Honour and interest bind the solemn vow,
And duty warmth and ardour will allow.
Passion itself on reason here relies:
To love is to be blest and to be wise.
As that whose knot your soul and body join'd;
No time, no chance the dear affection part,
While kindly life-blood flows around the heart;
While new endearments, new desires engage,
And mock the sure approach of coming age.
Marriage that ancient quarrel can remove
Betwixt grave wisdom and ecstatic love:
Honour and interest bind the solemn vow,
And duty warmth and ardour will allow.
Passion itself on reason here relies:
To love is to be blest and to be wise.
| Poems on several occasions | |