 | Poems on several occasions |  |
TO MR. FITZGERALD, UPON HIS MARRIAGE.
At length the long-weigh'd doubt is fairly past
And vows are plighted that with life must last,
That passion into reason can improve,
And clip the wanton wings of flying love;
Whence timely bliss in every season flows,
In youth our transport, in our age repose.
And vows are plighted that with life must last,
That passion into reason can improve,
And clip the wanton wings of flying love;
468
In youth our transport, in our age repose.
A scene unknown before disclosed you find,
New-launch'd into the world of womankind;
Woman, the cully's hate, the coxcomb's scorn,
Made to preserve our race and to adorn.
Immortal souls inform their softer frame;
Their passions like, their faculties the same.
Kindness and worth their just affections move;
As firm their friendship, and as warm their love.
From reason deep as ours their acts proceed:
Pleased they will smile, and wounded they will bleed.
Nor smallest difference there betwixt us lies,
But what from different stations must arise.
View them where most their conduct we deride,—
The jilt's hypocrisy and beauty's pride,
The haughty grandeur of a flatter'd fair,
The turns and doublings of a hunted hare;
These faults, perhaps, are feminine:—but stay,
And mark the prosperous statesman for a day:
His saucy frown and cringing sneer attend,
When he insults the foe, and cheats the friend:
Soon, with John Dryden, you'll acknowledge then
That deep dissembling has a place in men;
And own that female pride must quit the field,
And Parthenissa to Sir Robert yield.
New-launch'd into the world of womankind;
Woman, the cully's hate, the coxcomb's scorn,
Made to preserve our race and to adorn.
Immortal souls inform their softer frame;
Their passions like, their faculties the same.
Kindness and worth their just affections move;
As firm their friendship, and as warm their love.
From reason deep as ours their acts proceed:
Pleased they will smile, and wounded they will bleed.
Nor smallest difference there betwixt us lies,
But what from different stations must arise.
View them where most their conduct we deride,—
The jilt's hypocrisy and beauty's pride,
The haughty grandeur of a flatter'd fair,
The turns and doublings of a hunted hare;
These faults, perhaps, are feminine:—but stay,
And mark the prosperous statesman for a day:
His saucy frown and cringing sneer attend,
When he insults the foe, and cheats the friend:
Soon, with John Dryden, you'll acknowledge then
That deep dissembling has a place in men;
And own that female pride must quit the field,
And Parthenissa to Sir Robert yield.
Though wedding-songs have almost drain'd my store,
That scarcely can I find one lesson more;
Yet something still I must repeat to you;
And though the sense is old, the dress is new.
By strictest reason love should govern'd be,
As well as law, or arms, or policy.
Needs there an artist in his business skill'd,
The slightest skiff or meanest cot to build?
And must we, then, to chance or humour owe
Our love,—the greatest happiness below;
Hardly regain'd when lost, but kept with ease?
Desire of pleasing seldom fails to please.
Rather than give the dear one cause to grieve,
A friend, a brother, nay, a parent, leave.
'Tis well if two for life-time can agree:
None e'er should marry to a family.
That scarcely can I find one lesson more;
469
And though the sense is old, the dress is new.
By strictest reason love should govern'd be,
As well as law, or arms, or policy.
Needs there an artist in his business skill'd,
The slightest skiff or meanest cot to build?
And must we, then, to chance or humour owe
Our love,—the greatest happiness below;
Hardly regain'd when lost, but kept with ease?
Desire of pleasing seldom fails to please.
Rather than give the dear one cause to grieve,
A friend, a brother, nay, a parent, leave.
'Tis well if two for life-time can agree:
None e'er should marry to a family.
Who gaily laugh at caution and at rules,
Oft find by dear experience they were fools.
A man who first in heat of transport cried
He scarce could live a week without his bride,
Grows cool; and if the father would but take
The wife alone, without the portion, back,
Would glad restore her ere the year and day,—
The time the law allows us for a stray.
But you, no doubt, despise these idle dreams,
Who prudence love, and are a friend to schemes.
And where can mortals better show their skill,
Than in protecting love from fear of ill?
Oft find by dear experience they were fools.
A man who first in heat of transport cried
He scarce could live a week without his bride,
Grows cool; and if the father would but take
The wife alone, without the portion, back,
Would glad restore her ere the year and day,—
The time the law allows us for a stray.
But you, no doubt, despise these idle dreams,
Who prudence love, and are a friend to schemes.
And where can mortals better show their skill,
Than in protecting love from fear of ill?
Many are arm'd 'gainst fate's severest blows,
Whom every petty cross can discompose.
Each day our life must little evils meet:
Who knows not how to bear them, makes them great.
'Tis no advantage to the cure at all,—
If deep the wound be,—that the sword was small.
'Tis always want of temper or of sense,
To start impatient of impertinence.
Shall I be out of humour, vex'd, and dull,
As oft as coxcombs please to play the fool?
What man alive on earth can folly shun,
When all is folly that's beneath the sun?
No fits of peevishness your bosom seize,
Nor gusts of whimsies interrupt your peace.
With eagerness for trifles to engage,
Is not a woman's, but an infant's, rage.
So, thwarted by his nurse, the wayward boy
Will scold, and scratch, and whimper for a toy.
Whom every petty cross can discompose.
Each day our life must little evils meet:
Who knows not how to bear them, makes them great.
470
If deep the wound be,—that the sword was small.
'Tis always want of temper or of sense,
To start impatient of impertinence.
Shall I be out of humour, vex'd, and dull,
As oft as coxcombs please to play the fool?
What man alive on earth can folly shun,
When all is folly that's beneath the sun?
No fits of peevishness your bosom seize,
Nor gusts of whimsies interrupt your peace.
With eagerness for trifles to engage,
Is not a woman's, but an infant's, rage.
So, thwarted by his nurse, the wayward boy
Will scold, and scratch, and whimper for a toy.
Business unsought has made my pen too slow,
As business often is to love a foe:
Though still I finish this my friendly lay
Ere quite the sun brings round your marriage-day;
Nor yet too late my verses will appear,
If honey-moon can last throughout the year.
May wisdom's power make it endure for life,
And choke the rising seeds of infant strife!
No more in haste to sing your wedding I,
Than you to wed; though wiser 'tis to try,
(If aught I understand the nuptial state,)
A year too early, than a day too late.
As business often is to love a foe:
Though still I finish this my friendly lay
Ere quite the sun brings round your marriage-day;
Nor yet too late my verses will appear,
If honey-moon can last throughout the year.
May wisdom's power make it endure for life,
And choke the rising seeds of infant strife!
No more in haste to sing your wedding I,
Than you to wed; though wiser 'tis to try,
(If aught I understand the nuptial state,)
A year too early, than a day too late.
| Poems on several occasions | |