Do thou her own authority impart,
And give my numbers entrance to the heart;
Perhaps the verse might rouse her smother'd flame,
And snatch the fainting patriot back to fame;
Perhaps by worthy thoughts of humankind
To worthy deeds exalt the conscious mind,
Or dash Corruption in her proud career,
And teach her slaves that Vice was born to fear. 348
Too much heart of Beauty's pow'r hath known,
Too long to Love hath Reason left her throne,
Too long my Genius mourn'd his myrtle chain,
And three rich years of youth consum'd in vain.
My wishes lull'd with soft inglorious dreams
Forgot the patriot's and the sage's themes;
Thro' each Elysian vale and Fairy grove,
Thro' all the enchanted Paradise of Love,
Misled by sickly Hope's deceitful flame,
Averse to action, and renouncing fame.
At last the visionary scenes decay,
My eyes exulting bless the newborn day
Whose faithful beams detect the dang'rous road
In which my heedless feet securely trod,
And strip the phantoms of their lying charms
That lur'd my soul from Wisdom's peaceful arms.
For silver streams and banks bespread with flow'rs, For mossy couches and harmonious bow'rs, Lo! barren heaths appear, and pathless woods, And rocks hung dreadful o'er unfathom'd floods : For openness of heart, for tender smiles, Looks fraught with love, and wrath-disarming wiles, Lo! sullen Spite and perjur'd Lust of Gain, And cruel Pride and crueller Disdain; Lo! cordial Faith to idiot airs refin'd, Now coolly civil, now transporting kind; For graceful Ease, lo! Affectation walks, And dull Half-sense for Wit and Wisdom talks : New to each hour what low delight succeeds, What precious furniture of hearts and heads ! By nought their prudence but by getting known, And all their courage in deceiving shown.
See next what plagues attend the lover's state, What frightful forms of Terror, Scorn, and Hate! See burning Fury heav'n and earth defy!
See dumb Despair in icy fetters lie!
See black Suspicion bend his gloomy brow,
The hideous image of himself to view!
And fond Belief with all a lover's flame
Sinks in those arms that points his head with shame!
There wan Dejection falt'ring as he goes,
In shades and silence vainly seeks repose,
Musing thro' pathless wilds consumes the day,
Then lost in darkness weeps the hours away.
gay crowd of Luxury advance,
Some touch the lyre and others urge the dance;
On ev'ry head the rosy garland glows,
In ev'ry hand the golden goblet flows,
The Siren views them with exulting eyes,
And laughs at bashful Virtue as she flies.
But see behind where Scorn and Want appear,
The grave remonstrance and the witty sneer;
See fell Remorse in action prompt to dart
Her snaky poison thro' the conscious heart!
And Sloth to cancel with oblivious shame
The fair memorial of Recording Fame!
Are these delights that one would wish to gain?
Is this th' Elysium of a sober brain?
To wait for happiness in female smiles,
Bear all her scorn, be caught with all her wiles, 60
With pray'rs, with bribes, with lies, her pity crave,
Bless her hard bonds, and boast to be her slave,
To feel for trifles a distracting train
Of hopes and terrors equally in vain,
This hour to tremble and the next to glow?
Can Pride, can Sense, can Reason, stoop so low,
When Virtue at an easier price displays
The sacred wreaths of honourable praise,
When Wisdom utters her divine decree
To laugh at pompous Folly and be free?
I bid adieu then to these woful scenes,
I bid adieu to all the sex of queens ;
Adieu to ev'ry suff ring simple soul
That lets a woman's will his ease control.
There laugh, ye Witty! and rebuke, ye Grave!
For me I scorn to boast that I'm a slave;
I bid the whining brotherhood be gone:
Joy to my heart! my wishes are my own.
Farewell, the female heav'n, the female hell,
To the great god of Love a glad farewell,
Is this the triumph of thy awful name?
Are these the splendid hopes that urg'd thy aim
When first my bosom own'd thy haughty sway,
When thus Minerva heard thee boasting say,
"Go, martial Maid! elsewhere thy arts employ,
"Nor hope to shelter that devoted boy;
"Go teach the solemn sons of Care and Age, "The pensive statesmen and the midnight sage; "The young with me must other lessons prove, "Youth calls for Pleasure, Pleasure calls for Love; "Behold his heart thy grave advice disdains, "Behold I bind him in eternal chains ?"
Alas! great Love, how idle was the boast! Thy chains are broken and thy lessons lost; Thy wilful rage has tir'd my suff'ring heart, And passion, reason, forc'd thee to depart.
But wherefore dost thou linger on thy way,' Why vainly search for some pretence to stay When crowds of vassals court thy pleasing yoke And countless victims bow them to the stroke? Volume II.
Lo! round thy shrine a thousand youths advance, Warm with the gentle ardours of romance
Each longs t'assert thy cause with feats of arms,
And make the world confess Dulcinea's charms.
Ten thousand girls with flow'ry chaplets crown'd
To groves and streams thy tender triumph sound,
Each bids the stream in murmurs speak her flame,
Each calls the grove to sigh her shepherd's name :
But if thy pride such easy honours scorn,
If nobler trophies must thy toil adorn,
Behold yon flow'ry antiquated maid
Bright in the bloom of threescore years display'd,
Her shalt thou bind in thy delightful chains,
And thrill with gentle pangs her wither'd veins,
Her frosty cheek with crimson blushes dye,
With dreams of rapture melt her maudiin eye.
Turn then thy labours to the servile crowd,
Entice the wary and control the proud,
Make the sad miser his best gains forego,
The solemn statesman sigh to be a beau,
The bold coquette with fondest passion burn,
The Bacchanalian o'er his bottle mourn,
And that chief glory of thy pow'r maintain
"To poise ambition in a female brain."
Be these thy triumphs, but no more presume 125
That my rebellious heart will yield thee room :
I know thy puny force, thy simple wiles,
I break triumphant thro' thy flimsy toils :
|