Fugitive Pieces | Page 9

memory! thou choicest blessing,?When join'd with hope, when still possessing;?Thou whisperest, as our hearts are beating,?"What oft we've done, we're still repeating."?But how much curst by every lover,?When hope is fled, and passion's over.?Woman that fair and fond deceiver,?How prompt are striplings to believe her,?How throbs the pulse, when first we view,?The eye that rolls in glossy blue;?Or sparkles black, or mildly throws,?A beam from under hazel brows;?How quick we credit every oath,?And hear her plight the willing troth;?Fondly we hope 'twill last for aye,?When lo! she changes in a day,?The Record will forever stand,?"That woman's vows, are writ in sand."

AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE DELIVERED BY THE AUTHOR, PREVIOUS TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, AT A PRIVATE THEATRE.
Since the refinement of this polish'd age,?Has swept immoral raillery from the stage;?Since taste has now expung'd licentious wit,?Which stamp'd disgrace on all an author writ;?Since now to please with purer scenes we seek,?Nor dare to call the blush from beauty's cheek;?Oh! let the modest muse some pity claim,?And meet indulgence--though she find not fame.?But not for her alone, we wish respect,?Others appear more conscious of defect;?To night, no Veteran Roscii you behold,?In all the arts of scenic action old;?No COOKE, no KEMBLE, can salute you here,?No SIDDONS draw the sympathetic tear,?To night, you thong to witness the debut,?Of embryo actors to the drama new;?Here then, our almost unfledg'd wings we try,?Clip not our pinions_, ere the _birds can fly;?Failing in this our first attempt to soar,?Drooping, alas, we fall to rise no more.?Not one poor trembler only, fear betrays,?Who hopes, yet almost dreads to meet your praise;?But all our Dramatis Person? wait,?In fond suspense, this crisis of their fate;?No venal views our progress can retard,?Your generous plaudits are our sole reward;?For them each Hero all his power displays,?Each timid Heroine shrinks before your gaze:?Surely these last will some protection find,?None to the softer sex can prove unkind;?Whilst youth and beauty form the female shield,?The sternest critic to the fair must yield.?But should our feeble efforts nought avail,?Should, after all, our best endeavours fail;?Still let some mercy in your bosoms live,?And if you can't applaud, at least forgive.

TO MISS E.P.
1.
Eliza! what fools are the Mussulman sect,?Who to woman deny the soul's future existence,?Could they see thee, Eliza! they'd own their defect,?And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance.
2.
Had their Prophet possess'd but an atom of sense,?He ne'er would have woman from Paradise driven,?But instead of his Houris a flimsy pretence,?With woman alone, he had peopled his Heaven.
3.
But still to increase your calamities more,?Not content with depriving your bodies of spirit,?He allots but one husband to share amongst four,?With souls you'd dispense--but this last who could bear it.
4.
His religion to please neither party is made,?On husbands_ 'tis _hard, to the wives most uncivil;?But I can't contradict what so oft has been said,?"Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil."
5.
This terrible truth, even Scripture has told,?Ye Benedicks! hear me, and listen with rapture;?If a glimpse of redemption you wish to behold,?Of St. MATT.--read the second and twentieth chapter.
6.
'Tis surely enough upon earth to be vex'd,?With wives who eternal confusion are spreading;?"But in Heaven" (so runs the Evangelist's Text,)?"We neither have giving in marriage, or wedding."
7.
From this we suppose, (as indeed well we may,)?That should Saints after death, with their spouses put up more, And wives, as in life, aim at absolute sway,?All Heaven would ring with the conjugal uproar.
8.
Distraction and discord would follow in course,?Nor MATTHEW, nor MARK, nor St. PAUL, can deny it,?The only expedient is general divorce,?To prevent universal disturbance and riot.
9.
But though husband and wife, shall at length be disjoin'd Yet woman and man ne'er were meant to dissever,?Our chains once dissolv'd, and our hearts unconfin'd,?We'll love without bonds, but we'll love you forever.
10.
Though souls are denied you by fools and by rakes,?Should you own it yourselves, I would even then doubt you, Your nature so much of celestial partakes,?The Garden of Eden would wither without you.
SOUTHWELL, October 9, 1806.

THE TEAR.
1.
When Friendship or Love,?Our sympathies move,?When Truth in a glance should appear,?The lips may beguile,?With a dimple or smile,?But the test of affection's a tear.
2.
Too oft is a smile,?But the hypocrite's wile,?To mask detestation, or fear,?Give me the soft sigh,?Whilst the soul telling eye?Is dimm'd, for a time, with a tear.
3.
Mild charity's glow,?To us mortals below,?Shows the soul from barbarity clear,?Compassion will melt,?Where this virtue is felt,?And its dew is diffused in a tear.
4.
The man doom'd to sail,?With the blast of the gale,?Through billows Atlantic to steer,?As he bends o'er the wave,?Which may soon be his grave,?The green sparkles bright with a tear.
5.
The soldier braves death,?For a fanciful wreath,?In Glory's romantic career;?But he raises the foe,?When in battle laid low,?And bathes every wound with a tear.
6.
When with high bounding pride,?He returns to his bride,?Renouncing the gore crimson'd spear;?All his