University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Poems of Charles Sackville

Sixth Earl of Dorset: Edited by Brice Harris
Dorset, Charles Sackville (1638?-1706)

collapse sectionI. 
I. Literary Matters
  
To Sir Thomas St. Serfe: on the Printing his Play Call'd “Tarugo's Wiles”
  
To Mr. Edward Howard, on his Incomparable, Incomprehensible Poem Called “The British Princes”
  
Epilogue to “Every Man in his Humour”
  
Epilogue to “Tartuffe”
  
On Mr. Edward Howard upon his “New Utopia”
  
To Mr. Bays
  
The Duel
  
A True Account of the Birth and Conception of a Late Famous Poem call'd “The Female Nine”
collapse sectionII. 
II. Old Affected Court Ladies
  
The Antiquated Coquette
  
On the Countess Dowager of Manchester
collapse section 
Four Poems on the Countess of Dorchester
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
collapse sectionIII. 
III. State Affairs
  
Catch
  
On the Young Statesmen
  
My Opinion
  
On the Statue in the Privy Garden
  
On King William's Happy Deliverance from the Intended Assassination
collapse sectionIV. 
IV. Advice to Lovers
  
A Ballad by the Lord Dorset when at Sea
  
To Phyllis
  
Knotting
  
Song
  
A Song to Chloris, from the Blind Archer
  
The Advice
  
A Song
  
A Song
  
Advice to Lovers
  
The Advice
  
The Fire of Love
collapse sectionV. 
V. Friends and Acquaintances
  
On Dolly Chamberlain A Sempstress in the New Exchange
  
A Song on Black Bess
  
Epitaph on Mrs. Lundy
  
On the Young Heiress of Lincoln's Inn Fields
  
Pindaric Petition to the Lords in Council
  
On Mrs. Anne Roche when she Lost Sir John Daws
collapse sectionVI. 
VI. Court and Town
collapse section 
Four Letters in Verse between Dorset and Etherege
  
A Letter from the Lord Buckhurst to Mr. George Etherege
  
Mr. Etherege's Answer
  
Another Letter by the Lord Buckhurst to Mr. Etherege
  
Mr. Etherege's Answer
  
The Duel of the Crabs
  
Colon
  
A Faithful Catalogue of our Most Eminent Ninnies
collapse sectionVII. 
VII. Translation and Paraphrase
  
Madam Maintenon's Advice to the French King. Paraphrase on the French
  
The Innocent Conjugates or The Maiden Bridegroom and Virgin Bride
  
A Rodomontade on his Cruel Mistress

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section The Poems of Charles Sackville
next section
45

IV.

[Tell me, Dorinda, why so gay]

Tell me, Dorinda, why so gay,
Why such embroid'ry, fringe, and lace?
Can any dresses find a way
To stop th'approaches of decay
And mend thy ruin'd face?
Wilt thou still sparkle in the box,
And ogle in the ring?
Canst thou forget thy age and pox?
Can all that shines on shells and rocks
Make thee a fine young thing?
So have I seen in larder dark
Of veal a lucid loin,
46

Replete with many a heatless spark,
As wise philosophers remark,
At once both stink and shine.
previous section The Poems of Charles Sackville
next section