THE PROGRESS OF LOVE. 1716.
DESPONDING Phyllis was endued
With every talent of a prude :
She trembled when a man drew near;
Salute her, and she turn'd her ear ;
If o'er against her you were plac'd,
She durft not look above your waift:
She 'd rather take you to her bed,
Than let you see her dress her head :
In church you hear her, through the croud,
Repeat the abfolution loud :
In church, fecure behind her fan,
She durft behold that monster man;
There practis'd how to place her head,
And bit her lips to make them red;
Or, on the mat devoutly kneeling,
Would lift her eyes up to the cieling,
And heave her bosom unaware,
For neighbouring beaux to fee it bare.
At length a lucky lover came,
And found admittance to the dame.
Suppose all parties now agreed,
The writings drawn, the lawyer fee'd,
The vicar and the ring bespoke:
Guess, how could fuch a match be broke?
See then what mortals place their bliss in !
Next morn betimes the bride was miffing:
The mother fcream'd, the father chid;
Where can this idle wench be hid?
No news of Phyl! the bridegroom came,
And thought his bride had skulk'd for shame;
Because her father us'd to say,
The girl bad fuch a bashful way!
Now John the butler must be sent
To learn the road that Phyllis went.
The groom was wish'd to faddle Crop;
For John must neither light nor stop,
But find her, wheresoe'er she fled,
And bring her back, alive or dead.
See here again the devil to do!
For truly John was missing too :
The horse and pillion both were gone!
Phyllis, it feems, was fled with John.
Old Madam, who went up to find
What papers Phyl had left behind,
A letter on the toilet fees,
To my much-honour'd father - these -
('Tis always done, romances tell us,
When daughters run away with fellows)
Fill'd with the choiceft common-places,
By others us'd in the like cafes.
"That long ago a fortune-teller
"Exactly faid what now befel her;
" And in a glass had made her fee
"A ferving-man of low degree.
"It was her fate, must be forgiven; "For marriages were made in heaven : " His pardon begg'd: but, to be plain, "She'd do 't, if 'twere to do again : "Thank'd God, 'twas neither foame nor fin " For John was come of honest kin. " Love never thinks of rich and poor : " She'd beg with John from door to door. " Forgive her, if it be a crime; "She 'll never do 't another time. "She ne'er before in all her life "Once disobey'd him, maid nor wife. "One argument she summ'd up all in, "The thing was done, and past recalling; " And therefore hop'd she should recover "His favour, when his passion's over. " She valued not what others thought her, " And was - his most obedient daughter."
Fair maidens, all attend the Muse, Who now the wandering pair purfues : Away they rode in homely fort, Their journey long, their money short; The loving couple well bemir'd.; The horfe and both the riders tir'd : Their victuals bad, their lodging worse; Phyl cry'd! and John began to curse : Phyl wish'd, that she had ftrain'd a limb, When first she ventur'd out with him; John wish'd, that he had broke a leg, When first for her he quitted Peg.
But what adventures more befel them,
The Muse hath now no time to tell them,
How Johnny wheedled, threaten'd, fawn'd,
Till Phyllis all her trinkets pawn'd:
How oft' she broke her marriage vows
In kindness to maintain her spoufe,
Till swains unwholesome spoil'd the trade;
For now the furgeons must be paid,
To whom those perquifites are gone,
In Christian justice due to John.
When food and raiment now grew scarce,
Fate put a period to the farce,
And with exact poetic justice;
For John was landlord, Phyllis hostefs;
They keep, at Staines, the Old Blue Boar,
Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore.
DELICIÆ Sheridan Mufarum, dulcis amice,
Si tibi propitius Permessi ad flumen Apollo
Occurrat, feu te mimum convivia rident,
Equivocosque sales spargis, feu ludere versu
Malles; dic, Sheridan, quisnam fuit ille deorum,
Quæ melior natura orto tibi tradidit artem
Rimandi genium puerorum, atque ima cerebri
Scrutandi? Tibi nafcenti ad cunabula Pallas
Aftitit; & dixit, mentis præsaga futuræ,
Heu, puer infelix! nostro fub fidere natus;
Nanı tu pectus eris fine corpore, corporis umbra;
Sed levitate umbram fuperabis, voce cicadam:
Musca femur, palmas tibi mus dedit, ardea crura.
Corpore fed tenui tibi quod natura negavit,
Hoc animi dotes supplebunt; teque docente,
Nec longum tempus, surget tibi dosta juventus,
Artibus egregiis animas instructa novellas.
Grex hinc Pæonius venit, ecce, falutifer orbi.
Aft, illi caufas orant; his infula visa est
Divinam capiti nodo conftringere mitram.
Natalis te horæ non fallunt figna, sed usque
Conscius, expedias puero feu lætus Apollo
Nascenti arrifit; five illum frigidus horror
Saturni premit, aut septem inflavere triones.
Quin tu altè penitusque latentia semina cernis,
Quæque diu obtundendo olim fub luminis auras
Erumpent, promis; quo ritu fæpè puella
Sub cinere hesterno sopitos suscitat ignes.
Te dominum agnofcit quocunque fub aëre natus;
Quos indulgentis nimium cuftodia matris
Pessundat: nam fæpè vides in stipite matrem.
Aureus at ramus, venerandæ dona Sibyllæ,
Æneæ sedes tantùm patefecit Avernus;
Sæpè puer tua quem tetigit semel aurea virga
Cœlumque terrasque videt, noctemque profundam.
|