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56 Blue-Stocking Revels, <5fc.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Cantoiii.—The Supper
( Ben Stillingfleet , namely , fine hearted old codger ! A loving old bachelor , —real Sir Roger ); But coxcombs ( themselves a pedantical crew ) Palm'd , in spite , upon her , the old gentleman ' s blue ; And thence , by as clever and handsome transition , Assum'd it of all in like letter'd condition .
As nicknames however are things we've a dread of In heaven itself , they're so hard to get rid of , And as the best way to divert their abuse ( If we use them at all ) is to give them right use , I hereby ordain , that in future the word Be confined to the masculine , vain , and absurd ,
And that all real women , ev _' n though they may speak Not with Sappho ' s eyes only , but even her Greek , All the flow'rs of the flock , the true breathers of sweets , Take their name from the queen of the sylvan retreats ;—From the hue which but now had your eyes fix'd upon it , — The Violet , — charmer of all that light on it . " No Blue , " ' twill be said , " is the she who so bears her ;
She ' s Violet : — -happy the bosom that wears her . " Here somebody happening to cough where we sat , Phoebus threw up a frown at us none could look at , — An eye of so sudden a flame and tremendous , I thought he was going to " flare-up" and end us ; But seeing us all look submissive , he shone With the former mild beams in his hair , and went on : —
_" And in truth , it depends on yourselves , darling creatures , Which shade of the hue shall illustrate your natures ; For though ye set out with the right one , nay , though I myself , as I now do , the blessing bestow , Yet the stockings themselves , I must tell you , are fated _. And iust as they ' re worn _, will be loved or get hated ;—
Remaining true violet , —glimpses of heaven , — As long as you ' re wise , and your tempers are even ; But if you grow formal , or fierce , or untrue , Alas , gentle colour ! sweet ancle , adieu ! Thou art chang'd ; and Love's self , at the changing , looks blue Seize the golden occasion then . —You , who already Are gentle , remain so ; and you , who would steady
( 44 ) The word " gentle * ' is hereto be understood in its fine old sense , as implying , in the inner nature , all which gentle manners ought to imply , and which , when really gentle , they do . Such is the meaning of the word in Chaucer , Spenser and Shakspcare ; in Mr Wordsworth's " Gentle lady married to the Moor ; and in the " cor gentile" and " Donna gen til " of the Italians .
56 Blue-Stocking Revels, <5fc.
56 Blue-Stocking Revels , < 5 fc .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1837, page 56, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_01071837/page/54/
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