William Hayley

“ On the quick match the Prude's keen censures fall,
Blind to the heavenly power who guided all:
But mild Serena scorn'd the prudish play,
To wound warm love with frivolous delay;
Nature's chaste child, not Affectation's slave,
The heart she meant to give, she frankly gave.
Thro' her glad sire no gouty humours run,
Jocund he glories in his destin'd son.
Penelope herself, no longer seen
In the sour semblance of tormenting Spleen,
Buys for her niece the robes of nuptial state,
Nor scolds the mercer once thro' all the long debate. ”

“ In Spleen's dark court a thousand agents dwell,
Who bind their victim's in the wayward spell!
Perchance three prime supporters of her sway,
The busiest of her fiends may cross thy way:
Stern Contradiction, her ill-favour'd child,
Of fierce demeanor, and of spirit wild,
Bane of delight! and horror of the sex!
His plan to puzzle, and his pride to vex!—
Or Scandal, filthy hag! who blindly limps
Round the wide earth, supported by her imps,
Her inky demons, who delight to print
Her base suggestion, and her envious hint:—
Or groundless Jealousy, pert changeling! ”

“ He bore a heart that answer'd to the name;
For this neat habit deck'd a generous youth,
Of gentlest manners, and sincerest truth.
Tho' on his birth propitious Fortune smil'd,
No proud parental folly spoil'd the child;
And Genius, more beneficently kind,
Blest with superior wealth his manly mind.
Of years he barely counted twenty-one;
But, like a brilliant morn, his opening life begun.
Fain would the Muse on this her votary dwell,
And fully paint the youth she loves so well;
His figure's charms, the music of his tongue,
What nymphs his lays allur'd, what lays he sung ”

“ Well have they earn'd these seats of blissful rest:
They, unrepining at severe restraint,
Peevish commands, and undeserv'd complaint;
Bent with unwearied kindness to appease
Each fancied want of querulous disease;
Gave up those joys which youthful hearts engage,
To watch the weakness of parental age.
Turn to this cheerful band; and mark in this,
Spirits who justly claim my realms of bliss!
Most lovely these! when judg'd by generous truth,
Tho' beauty is not their's, nor blooming youth:
For these are they, who, in life's thorny shade,
Repin'd not at the name of ancient maid. ”

“ My love shall watch thee, and my power protect."
So spake the friendly Sprite; th' obedient maid
Her form along the narrow vessel laid:
But oh! what terrors shake her tender soul,
As from the shore the bark begins to roll,
And, sever'd from her friend, her eyes discern
The steering spectre wading at the stern!
Far stronger fears her resolution melt,
Than those, which erst the bard of Florence felt,
When, by the honour'd shade of Virgil led
Thro' all the dreary circles of the dead,
Hell's fiercest demons threaten'd to divide
The living poet from his shadowy guide ”

“ To live untouch'd by subtle Spleen requires
The ceaseless care of disciplin'd desires.
'Tis my fond purpose in thy form to show
The sweetest model of my skill below:
A youth I destine to thy dear embrace,
Crown'd with each mental charm, and manly grace,
With whom thy innocence, secure from strife,
Shall reap the beauteous joys of blameless life.
Pleas'd I observe thy little heart begin
To ask, what charms the mighty prize may win:
But know, tho' Elegance herself be seen
To guide thy motion, and to form thy mien ”

“ From Spleen's new empire o'er the earth arose:
Each simple dictate of the soul forgot,
Then first was form'd the mercenary plot;
And Beauty practis'd the pernicious art,
Of angling slyly for an old man's heart;
Tho' crawling to his bride with tottering knees,
His words were dotage, and his love disease.
From sex to sex this base contagion ran,
And gold grew beauty in the eyes of man:
Courtship was traffic: and the married life
But one loud jangle of incessant strife. ”

“ Survey'd th' insulting peer, who sternly frown'd;
Shame and resentment thro' her bosom rush,
Swell every vein, and raise the burning blush.
Love, new-born love, but in its birth conceal'd,
Nor to the nymph herfelf as yet reveal'd,
And just disdain, and anger's honest flame,
With complicated power convulse her frame;
Contending passions every thought confound,
And in tumultuous doubt her soul is drown'd. ”

“ As the nice workman in the wooden trade
Hides his coarse ground, with finest woods o'erlaid,
Thus our young lord, with fashion's phrase refin'd,
Fineer'd the mean interior of his mind:
And hence, in courtesy's mild lustre seen,
His spirit shone as graceful as his mien,
The artless fair, on fashion's kind report,
Thought him the mirror of a matchless court:
Much she his dress, his language much observes,
Whole finer accents prove his feeling nerves,
Her fancy now the destin'd lover spies,
But her free heart abjures the quick surmise ”

“ To shield her votary from the wiles of Spleen,
As friendly Love had fixt a future time,
When to reveal the secret of the rhyme,
Strove till that hour her fancy to restrain,
Nor let her anxious wishes rise to pain.
As gaiety's fresh tide began to roll,
Fast in the swelling channel of her soul,
The good old knight descends, tho' eager, slow,
The gout still tingling in his tender toe ”

“ Tho' oft I feel my power by Spleen subdu'd,
In the shrill Vixen, and the sullen prude,
In some fair forms my soft dominion grows,
Like fragrance, rising from the opening rose:
Still I preserve, in many a lovely face,
That gay good-humour, and that constant grace,
Which heavenly powers united to infold
In perfect Woman's new-created mould;
When Nature, in her infant beauty blest,
The last and loveliest of her works carest. ”

“ The peer himself, his prowess to evince,
Shines in the semblance of a Moorish prince;
And round the brilliant mimic hero wait
All pomp and circumstance of Moorish state:
Thro' all his splendid dome no eye could find
Aught unembellish'd, save the master's mind,
There, tho' represt by courtesy's control,
Lurks the low mover of the little soul,
Mean Vanity; whose slave can never prove
The heart-refining flame of genuine love. ”

“ And here, thro' bars that twisted adders make,
And the long volumes of th' envenom'd snake,
O'er this dark road they dart an anxious eye,
Still envying every fiend that flutters by.
Pass! and regard them not!"—Th' attentive maid
In silent tremor the behest obey'd.
This dungeon crost, her weary feet she drags
Thro' winding caverns, and o'er icy crags:
Soul-chilling damps in the dark passage reign,
Which issues on a vast and dreary plain,
Fann'd by no breezes, with no verdure crown'd;
The black horizon is its only bound. ”

“ Still round her heart th' important zone she kept.
Thou happy girdle! to thy charge be just!
Firm be thy threads, and faithful to their trust;
For hours approach, when all the stores they hide
Of magic virtue, must be strongly tried!—
Now, while her kind domestic heart intends
To please her early sire, the nymph descends;
But sleep, who left the fair with sudden flight,
With late wings hover'd o'er the good old knight ”

“ Swallows its melting bone and fluid limbs:—
So this Ennui, this wonder-working elf,
Can vanquish powers far mightier than himself:
Nor Wit nor Science soar his reach above,
And oft he seizes on successful Love.
Of all the radiant host who lent their aid
To light mankind thro' life's bewildering shade,
Bright Charity alone with cloudless ray,
May boast exemption from his baleful sway:
Haste then, sweet nymph! nor let us longer roam
Round the drear circle of this dangerous dome!
Lest e'en thy guide entangled in his spell,
Should fail to guard thee from a fiend so fell! ”

“ So thro' this arching rock thou 'lt pass alone,
Safe from the perils of th' incumbent stone:
Embark undaunted!—on the farther side
Thou 'lt surely find me, thy unfailing guide.
Nor let this pilot raise thy groundless dread,
This sullen Charon of the froward dead,
A phantom, never blest with human life,
Tho' oft on earth his noxious power is rife;
And in that region, ne'er from error free,
The words he dictates are assign'd to me.
Observe this fiend, that Nature scorn'd to frame,
Offspring of Pride, and Apathy his name! ”

“ As thus she spake, her heavenly arms embrac'd,
And in the car the conscious maiden plac'd,
Quick at her wish the flaming wheels ascend,
No clouds impede them wheresoe'er they bend.
As thro' the empire of the winds they rush'd,
The winds were all in mute submission hush'd:
And now Serena, from th' exalted car,
Look'd down, astonish'd, on each sinking star;
Flying o'er lucid orbs, whose distant light
Yet has not reach'd the scope of human sight ”

“ The wither'd flowers are fall'n that bloom'd so fair,
And poison all the pestilential air.
From the rent earth dark demons force their way,
And make the sportive revellers their prey.
Here gloomy Terror, with a shadowy rope,
Seems, like a Turkish mute, to strangle Hope;
There jealous Fury drowns in blood the fire
That sparkled in the eye of young Desire;
And lifeless Love lets merciless Despair
From his crush'd frame his bleeding pinions tear.
But pangs more cruel, more intensely keen,
Wound and distract their sympathetic queen:
With fruitless tears she o'er their misery bends ”

“ While belles and bards with mournful sighs exclaim,
Mortality has seiz'd both Love and Fame.
Ah, fair Serena! might the boast be ours
To clear from such a charge these heavenly powers!
Blest! might thy bard deserve in Fame to see
A guard as faithful as Love proves to thee!
Blest! if that airy being gild his life,
Who sav'd thee trembling on the brink of strife,
And now, kind prompter of thy nightly dream,
Fill'd thy rapt spirit with her sacred beam! ”

“ Thou seest how Spleen's infernal vapours roll
Across the sweet serene of Woman's soul;
And earth, which darkens as her beauties fade,
Must grow a second hell without thy aid:
Take then thy station! fix thy nobler reign
O'er those fine chords that form the female brain,
That us'd, ere injur'd by the rust of Spleen,
To fill with harmony the human scene!
Go! lest her touch their tender tones destroy,
Teach them to vibrate to thy notes of joy! ”

“ All Nature sickens; and her fairest flower,
Enchanting Woman, feels the baneful Power:
As in her soul the clouds of Spleen arise,
The sprightly essence of her beauty flies:
In youth's gay prime, in hours with rapture warm,
Love looks astonish'd on her altering form:
To pleasing frolics, and enchanting wiles,
Life-darting looks, and soul-subduing smiles,
Dark whims succeed: thick-coming fancies fret ”

“ That love revokes the moment it is heard:
Or haply mirth, in mimic wrath exprest,
A feign'd forbiddance utter'd but in jest:
To this short hope her sinking spirit clung,
To see his softening eyes refute his tongue.
Ah, fruitless hope! for there she cannot find
The well-known signals of the friendly mind,
Stern contradiction, with the frown of fate,
On his dark visage reign'd in sullen state ”

“ To blast the rose that health's bright cheek adorns,
And fill each festive heart with latent thorns:
For the sly fiend, of every heart possest,
Steals on th' affection of her female guest;
And, by her soft address seducing each,
Eager she plies them with a brandy peach:
They with keen lip the luscious fruit devour;
But swiftly feel its peace-destroying power.
Quick thro' each vein new tides of frenzy roll:
All evil passions kindle in the soul,
Drive from each feature every cheerful grace,
And glare ferocious in the sallow face ”

“ Hence I to thee such mysteries unfold,
As man's pedantic eye shall ne'er behold;
Whose narrow science, tho' it proudly boast
To pierce the sky, and count the starry host,
Sees not the lucid band of airy powers,
Who flutter round him in his secret hours:
But if to me, thy guardian now display'd,
Thy duteous orisons are justly paid,
Thou to those realms shalt pass with me thy guide,
Where Spleen's pale victims, after death, reside ”

“ The lively wanderer to new worlds convey,
Escaping from her heavy house of clay,
How could the gentle spirit, foe to strife,
Bear without you this coil of waking life?
Its grief-embitter'd cares, its joyless mirth,
And all the flat realities of earth?
Sweet phantoms! you the glowing hope inspire,
You give to beauty charms, to fancy fire,
When, soaring like the eagle's kindred frame,
The poet dreams of everlasting fame ”

“ Breathes to her guardian Sprite this tender prayer:
"Thou kind preserver! whose attentive zeal
Gives me in this contented hour to feel
That dearest pleasure of a soul refin'd,
The triumph of the self-corrected mind;
If happy in the strength thy smiles impart,
I own thy favour in no thankless heart,
Still let me view thy form, so justly dear!
Still in kind visions to these eyes appear! ”

“ Hang, like the dragon o'er th' Hesperian fruit.
Tho' strictly guarded by this jealous power,
The mild Serena no restraint could sour:
Pure was her bosom as the silver lake,
Ere rising winds the ruffled water shake,
When the bright pageants of the morning sky
Across th' expansive mirror lightly fly,
By vernal gales in quick succession driven,
While the clear glass reflects the light of heaven.
In gay content a sportive life she led,
The child of Modesty, by Virtue bred:
Her light companions Innocence and Ease ”

“ And in a wonderous car the smiling Spirit rode;
Firm as pure ivory, it charm'd the sight
The hand of Beauty, with an easy swell,
Scoop'd the free concave like a bending shell;
And on its rich exterior, Art display'd
The triumphs of the Power the car convey'd. ”

“ Which, 'scaping from the dark domain of Spleen,
Springs with new warmth to thy attractive scene!
Once more I bless thy pleasure-breathing gale,
And gaze enchanted on thy flowery vale,
Where smiling innocence, and ardent youth,
Sport hand in hand with beauty and with truth. ”

“ And beauty, more than pomp, announc'd the queen.
The bending snow-drop, and the briar-rose,
The simple circle of her crown compose;
Roses of every hue her robe adorn,
Except th' insipid rose without a thorn.
Thro' her thin vest her heighten'd beauties shine;
For earthly gauze was never half so fine.
Of that enchanting age her figure seems,
When smiling nature with the vital beams
Published as the Act directs by T. Cadell, Strand, Febr. 1st. 1788. ”

“ To thee, sweet maid, whose pleasure-darting eyes
Joy in this favourite vest, an hour shall rise,
When thou shalt hate the silk so fondly sought,
And wish thy silver-spotted gauze unbought [1] :
For busy Spleen thy trial now prepares;
Darkly she forms her unsuspected snares,
And, keen to raise her pleasure-killing storm,
Assumes Penelope's congenial form. ”

“ Bear thro' ætherial fields this flying throne.
As by the subtle electrician's skill,
Globes seem to fly obedient to his will,
So these four circles of instinctive fire
Move by the impulse of their queen's desire,
Mount or descend by her directing care,
Or rest, supported by the buoyant air.
Now, springing from her car, that hovering staid
High in the chamber of the sleeping maid,
The goddess with a voice divinely clear,
Breath'd these kind accents in her votary's ear:—
"Come, my fair champion! who so well hast fought
The useful battles of contentious thought ”