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POETRY. 3 
~ON MARRIAGE. 
’ ; 
‘For the Bee. 
A courtty fearful author has declar’d, 
That all wise men their kindling hearts will guard-; 
-And tries, as ably as he can, to prove ‘ 
That ¢ fierce Repentance’ follows youthful love ; 
“That pafsion robs a man of common sense, 
And in no point of view deserves defence; 
That ¢ searchtefs cunning, cruelty, and death,” 
‘When beauty smiles, are lurking underneath 5 
“In fhort he talks insuch a surly stile, 
As if each sex were infinitely vile; 
As if rank falsehood fir’d each am’rous boy, 
And each fond girl charm’d-only to destroy. 
“First he forbids all love in ¢ rosy bow’rs,” hs 
And then proceeds to ‘ wine and wANTON hours;” 
But here the frosted. bachelor confounds 
Facts more remote than earth’s extremest bounds. 
“No man of sense, when sober, will applaud 
The infamous embraces of a bawd ; 
But let the boldest sophist try to prove 
‘How prostitution is allied to love! _ 
‘Does the coy country damsel in the fhade, 
“Resemble her whose claret:must de paid? 
Who by obscenity pretends to please, 
Her blufhes painted, and her blood disease? 
‘The youth whose basom artlefs beauty warms, 
May smile at‘such impertinent alarms. 
And then the picture he sublimely draws 
“Of one run mad when pafsién was the cause, 
‘Is so absurd, fantastical, and strange, 
Tis but a dreamer gives his fancy range. 
“Were-half the nonsense true he quaintly tells, 
_ Lovers are only fit for handcuffs and the cells. 
Whatever crazy pedants choosesto say, 
“No common man behaves in such.a way. 
The scenery he draws with so-much pains; 
Is the mere phantom of fermenting brains; 
And those whom plain. good sense is apt to tire, 
Are welcome, if they can, such verses to admire. 
It was not thus that Ovid pour’d his soul, 
Nor in such muddy foam did’ Virgil's numbers roll*. 
* The writer ofthe Seasons has many beauties; but he has likewise 
imperfections. The long pafgsage referred to in the text, will not bear the 
sober perusal of any reader, .The story.of Amanda is but a very infecior 
copy of the admirable book of Ruth. His lefty correspondence betweeia 
a lady bathing, and her lover peeping from behind the bufhes, appears to 
mé much over-strained, 
VOL. ix, 20 4 
