| |
| WHEN 1 time was young, and nature first began | |
| To form this odd, fantastic being, man, | |
| She rack’d her fancy to invent a joy | |
| Unknown before, to please the smiling boy. | |
| Her choicest viands from the field she brought, | 5 |
| Cherish’d each herb, and all their uses taught; | |
| Press’d the cold earth, and bade the fountain pour | |
| Its stream meandering to the distant shore. | |
| To cheer the day and banish every pain, | |
| She spread luxuriance o’er the festive plain, | 10 |
| Smiled on the scene, and call’d the choirist’s song | |
| To sweeten pleasure, and the joy prolong. | |
| Though far around was pour’d the plenteous tide, | |
| No charm forgotten, and no bliss denied; | |
| Though rich profusion lavish’d all its store, | 15 |
| Man saw the tasteless sweets, and pined for more. | |
| Still anxious care his feeling heart oppress’d, | |
| And pensive languor rankled on his breast. | |
| The plague ennui his dearest joys had stole, | |
| And solitude’s cold pleasure chill’d his soul. | 20 |
| Parental care again the task renew’d, | |
| Again each art, with fondest zeal pursued; | |
| From opening roses cull’d the blushing dye, | |
| And the mild lustre of the new-born sky; | |
| From every sweet expanding to the view | 25 |
| The magic power a soft perfection drew; | |
| Bestow’d each grace, that nicest skill could give, | |
| And call’d the lovely composition, Eve. | |
| The winning fair, from nature’s wardrobe dress’d, | |
| By heaven applauded, and by man caress’d, | 30 |
| Each melting charm with artless pride display’d, | |
| In form an angel, and in heart a maid. | |
| Now pleasure, chaste as virtue’s self could feign, | |
| Refined the heart and warm’d the lingering vein; | |
| Each joy complete; and man exulting wove | 35 |
| The silken fetters of connubial love. | |
| Had heaven’s behest in providence denied | |
| Nature’s best gift, and man’s too charming pride, | |
| No gentle tie the savage breast could bind, | |
| And instinct only rule the vacant mind. | 40 |
| Enchanting woman bade an Eden smile, | |
| Where the rough glebe defied the laborer’s toil; | |
| On the bare rock a pleasing banquet spread, | |
| And taught the flint to yield a downy bed. | |
| The happy peasant climbs the mountain’s brow, | 45 |
| Builds on the cliff, nor asks the plain below; | |
| Content and peace beneath the tempest dwell, | |
| And lovely woman cheers the humble cell. | |
| In softer climes, where beams a milder ray, | |
| Where laughing fields enjoy eternal May, | 50 |
| Enlighten’d man, to female merit true, | |
| Has paid the homage to perfection due. | |
| The hardy veteran quits the fatal plain, | |
| Where laurell’d honor strode amid the slain; | |
| To gentler passions yields the willing heart, | 55 |
| Bows to the fair, and owns the pleasing smart. | |
| The sceptred despot, now no longer proud, | |
| Deserts the throne, and leaves the fawning crowd, | |
| Himself a suppliant, to the fair he flies, | |
| Lives in her smile, and in her frown he dies. | 60 |
| Empires and states in maddening discord rage, | |
| Forget affection, and the combat wage | |
| For some fair she, whom artful man beguiled, | |
| And Troy expires, because a Helen smiled. | |
| Cornelia’s worth shall grace th’ historic page, | 65 |
| And all her virtues live to latest age; | |
| A shining portrait e’er held up to life, | |
| An ancient model for a modern wife. | |
| The modest matron, far from public show, | |
| Bent the young mind, and taught the heart to grow; | 70 |
| Deep in the nursery’s shade unenvied shone, | |
| Nor wish’d the gewgaws of the world her own. | |
| No diamond there its blazing lustre shed, | |
| No toilet splendor to the eye was spread; | |
| The infant’s prattle, and the winning play, | 75 |
| With dearer joys beguiled the tedious day, | |
| Than tinsell’d show and fading wealth impart, | |
| These charm the head, but those delight the heart. | |
| Far to the north, where Lapland deserts lie, | |
| A waste unpitied by the inclement sky, | 80 |
| The savage boor, to sympathy unknown, | |
| And mutual pleasures, which decrease his own, | |
| Stretch’d at his ease, neglects the husband’s care, | |
| While menial labors grind the hapless fair. | |
| From Afric sands, where Siroc’s poisonous breath | 85 |
| Blasts the young herb, and teems with wasting death, | |
| To the mild clime where Ganges laves the plain, | |
| Where smiling spring and whispering zephyrs reign, | |
| Still lives this truth, by savage man confess’d, | |
| Woman beloved, yet woman the oppress’d. | 90 |
| The Turk, a tyrant to the captive maid, | |
| Confines her beauties to the haram’s shade; | |
| There, on its wall each dastard act engraved, | |
| He counts his glories by the fair enslaved. | |
| The jealous knave would tame a female’s hate | 95 |
| With splendid trifles and the charms of state; | |
| With regal pride the lover’s warmth would give, | |
| And in a prison bid affection live. | |
| Preposterous thought! where slavery’s galling chain | |
| Chills the young wish, and turns each joy to pain, | 100 |
| Love, free as air, from cursed oppression flies, | |
| Pines at the fetter, and imprison’d dies. | |
| In milder Europe, when the infant ray | |
| Of pure refinement beam’d uncertain day, | |
| The hapless fair each humble labor plied, | 105 |
| And cold neglect attended at her side. | |
| Now genial science, on the mind has shone, | |
| Its rigor soften’d, and its passions won; | |
| Now female worth shall honest praise assume, | |
| Nor fade neglected in the cloister’s gloom. | 110 |
| Columbia hail! along thy favor’d shore, | |
| The fiend oppression shall be heard no more: | |
| No tyrant lord, with jealous fear, shall bind | |
| The soft affections of the female mind; | |
| No groveling wretch with impious zeal shall dare, | 115 |
| Assault the rights of heaven-protected fair. | |
| Soon shall the world receive the generous fire, | |
| Blush at its follies, and the fair admire; | |
| Soon shall the time, by ancient bards foretold, | |
| A joyful era to the heart unfold; | 120 |
| When female worth with purest beam shall shine, | |
| Nor rival man with sordid envy pine; | |
| When mutual pleasures undisturb’d shall roll, | |
| And the rude Arab own a woman’s soul. | |
