His country was his dearest mother, The Sharper swore he hated play, He heard there was a club of cheats, I own the moral not exact, Besides, the tale is false, in fact; And so absurd, that could I raise up, From fields Elysian, fabling Æsop, Well comprehend their natural powers, The Ass was never known so stupid, A NEW SIMILE FOR THE LADIES. WITH USEFUL ANNOTATIONS, DR. THOMAS SHERIDAN.* To make a writer miss his end, You've nothing else to do but mend. I OFTEN tried in vain to find A similet for womankind, And, after peeping through all nature, Clouds turn with every wind about, For who can tell at what they aim?|| Clouds keep the stoutest mortals under, When, bellowing, ¶ they discharge their thunder: So, when the alarum-bell is rung, Of Xanti's** everlasting tongue, * The following foot-notes, which appear to be Dr. Sheridan's, are replaced from the Irish edition. They hit the ignorance of the ladies in that age. + Most ladies, in reading, call this word a smile; but they are to note, it consists of three syllables, sim-i-le. In English, a likeness. Not to hurt them. § Not like a gun or pistol. This is not meant as to shooting, but resolving. ¶ This word is not here to be understood of a bull, but a cloud, which makes a noise like a bull, when it thunders. ** Xanti, a nick-name of Xantippe, that scold of glorious memory, who never let poor Socrates have one moment's peace of mind; yet with unexampled patience he bore her pestilential tongue. I shall beg the ladies' pardon if I insert a few passages concerning her; and at the same time I assure them it is not to lesson those of the present age, who are possessed of the like laudable talents; for I will confess, that I know three in the city of Dublin, no way inferior to Xantippe, but that they have not as great men to work upon. When a friend asked Socrates how he could bear the scolding of his wife Xantippe, he retorted, and asked him how he could bear the gaggling of his geese. The husband dreads its loudness more Clouds weep, as they do, without pain. The clouds build castles in the air, .* For all the schemes of their forecasting,† A cloud is light by turns, and dark, In this they're wondrously alike, (I hope this simile will strike)|| Though in the darkest dumps¶ you view them, Ay, but my geese lay eggs for me, replies his friend; So does my wife bear children, said Socrates.-Diog. Laert. Being asked at another time, by a friend, how he could bear her tongue, he said, she was of this use to him, that she taught him to bear the impertinences of others with more ease when he went abroad.-Plat. de Capiend. ex. host. utilit. Socrates invited his friend Euthymedus to supper. Xantippe, in great rage, went into them, and overset the table. Euthymedus, rising in a passion to go off, My dear friend, stay, said Socrates, did not a hen do the same thing at your house the other day, and did I show any resentment?-Plat. de ira cohibenda. I could give many more instances of her termagancy and his philosophy, if such a proceeding might not look as if I were glad of an opportunity to expose the fair sex; but, to show that I have no such design, I declare solemnly, that I had much worse stories to tell of her behavior to her husband, which I rather passed over, on account of the great esteem which I bear the ladies, especially those in the honorable station of matrimony. * Ramble. Not vomiting. Thrusting out the lip. This is to be understood not in the sense of wort, when brewers put yeast or barm in it; but its true meaning is, deceived or cheated. Hit your fancy. ¶ Sullen fits. We have a merry jig called Dumpty-Deary, invented to rouse ladies from the dumps. ** Reflection of the sun. So Celia, with small provocation, The clouds delight in gaudy show, Observe the clouds in pomp array'd, The clouds delight to change their fashion: (Dear ladies be not in a passion!) Nor let this whim to you seem strange, In evening fair you may behold The clouds are fring'd with borrow'd gold; Who flaunts about in borrow'd lace.‡ Clouds when they intercept our sight, Deprive us of celestial light: So when my Chloe I pursue, No heaven besides I have in view. Motherly woman. + Not grace before and after meat, nor their graces the duchesses, but the Graces which attended on Venus. ‡ Not Flanders-lace, but gold and silver lace. By borrowed, I mean such as run into honest tradesmen's debts, for which they were not able to pay, as many of them did for French silver lace, against the last birth-day. Vide the shopkeepers' books. § Girls who love to hear themselves prate, and put on a number of monkeyairs to catch men. Thus, on comparison,* you see, That every woman is a cloud. ON A LAPDOG. JOHN GAY. SHOCK's fate I mourn; poor Shock is now no more: Her streaming eyes, wrung hands, and flowing hair· And her torn fan gives real signs of woe. Stream eyes no more, no more thy tresses rend. Cease, Celia, cease; restrain thy flowing tears, I hope none will be so uncomplaisant to the ladies as to think these comparisons are odious. + Tell the whole world; not to proclaim them as robbers and rapparees. |