Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431394" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Spectacles</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I LATELY vowed to leave the nuns alone,<br>So oft their freaks have in my page been shown.<br>The subject may at length fatigue the mind;<br>My Muse the veil howe'er is still inclined,<br>Conspicuously to hold to publick view,<br>And, 'mong the sisters, scene and scene pursue.<br>Is this too much?--the nicest tricks they play;<br>Through soft amours oft artfully they stray,<br>And these in full I'd readily detail,<br>If I were sure the subject would not fail;<br>And that's impossible I must admit,<br>'Twould endless be, the tales appear so fit;<br>There's not a clerk so expeditious found,<br>Who could record the stories known around.<br>The sisters to forget, were I to try,<br>Suspicions might arise that, by and by,<br>I should return: some case might tempt my pen;<br>So oft I've overrun the convent-den,<br>Like one who always makes, from time to time,<br>The conversation with his feelings chime.<br>But let us to an end the subject bring,<br>And after this, of other matters sing.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IN former times was introduced a lad<br>Among the nuns, and like a maiden clad;<br>A charming girl by all he was believed;<br>Fifteen his age; no doubts were then conceived;<br>Coletta was the name the youth had brought,<br>And, till he got a beard, was sister thought.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE period howsoe'er was well employed,<br>And from it Agnes profit had enjoyed;<br>What profit?--truly better had I said,<br>That sister Agnes by him was misled,<br>And store of ills received; misfortune dire<br>Obliged the nun more girdle to require,<br>And ultimately to produce (in spite<br>Of ev'ry wish to guard the fact from light)<br>A little creature that our hist'ries say,<br>Was found Coletta's features to display.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">GREAT scandal quickly through the convent ran:<br>How could this child arrive?--the sisters 'gan<br>To laugh and ask, if in an evil hour,<br>The mushroom could have fallen with a show'r?<br>Or self-created was it not supposed?<br>Much rage the abbess presently disclosed;<br>To have her holy mansion thus disgraced!<br>Forthwith the culprit was in prison placed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE father to discover next they tried;<br>How could he enter, pass, escape, or hide;<br>The walls were high; the grate was double too;<br>Quite small the turning-box appeared to view,<br>And she who managed it was very old:--<br>Perhaps some youthful spark has been so bold,<br>Cried she who was superior to the rest,<br>To get admitted, like a maiden dressed,<br>And 'mong our flock (if rightly I surmise)<br>A wicked wolf is lurking in disguise.<br>Undress, I say, I'll verify the fact;<br>No other way remains for me to act.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE lad disguised was terrified to death;<br>Each plan was dissipated with a breath;<br>The more he thought of means from thence to get,<br>The greater were the obstacles he met.<br>At length NECESSITY (the parent found<br>Of stratagems and wiles, so much renowned,)<br>Induced the youth . . . (I scarcely can proceed)<br>To tie . . . expression here I clearly need;<br>What word will decently express the thought?<br>What book has got it?--where should it be sought?<br>You've heard, in days of yore that human kind,<br>With windows in their bosoms were designed,<br>Through which 'twas easy all within to see,<br>And suited those of medical degree.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">BUT if these windows useful were believed;<br>'Twas inconvenient in the heart perceived,<br>And women thoroughly disliked the scheme:--<br>They could not find the means to hide a dream.<br>Dame Nature howsoe'er contrived a plan:--<br>One lace she gave the woman, one the man,<br>Of equal length, and each enough no doubt,<br>By proper care to shut the ope throughout.<br>The woman much too thick her eyelets placed;<br>And consequently, ne'er was closely laced;<br>The fault was all her own: herself the cause;<br>The man as little merited applause,<br>For coarsely working, soon the hole was shut,<br>From which the remnant lace was left to jut;<br>In fact, on either side, whate'er was done,<br>The laces never equally would run,<br>And we are told, both sexes acted wrong:<br>The woman's was too short; the man's too long.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">FROM this 'tis easy, it should seem to guess:<br>What by the youth was tied in this distress<br>The end of lace that by the men was left,<br>When nature ordered them to close the cleft:<br>With thread he fastened it so very well,<br>That all was flat as any nun or belle;<br>But thread or silk, you cannot find a string<br>To hold, what soon I fear will give a spring,<br>And get away, in spite of all you do;<br>Bring saints or angels such a scene to view,<br>As twenty nuns in similar array,<br>Strange creatures I should think them:--merely clay,<br>If they should at the sight unmoved remain;<br>I speak of nuns, howe'er, whose charms maintain<br>Superior rank, and like the Graces seem,<br>Delightful sisters! ev'ry way supreme.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE prioress, this secret to disclose,<br>Appeared with spectacles upon her nose;<br>And twenty nuns around a dress displayed;<br>That convent mantua-makers never made,<br>Imagine to yourself what felt the youth,<br>'Mid this examination of the truth.<br>The nice proportions and the lily charms<br>Soon raised within his bosom dire alarms;<br>Like magick operated on the string,<br>And from it, what was tied, soon gave a spring;<br>Broke loose at once, just like a mettled steed,<br>That, having slipt its halter, flies with speed;<br>Against the abbess' nose with force it flew,<br>And spectacles from her proboscis threw.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THOUGH she had nearly fallen on the floor,<br>In thus attempting secrets to explore,<br>No jest she thought the accident, 'twas plain,<br>But would with force the discipline maintain.<br>A chapter instantly the lady held;<br>Long time upon the circumstance they dwelled.<br>The youthful wolf that caused the direful shock;<br>At length was given to the aged flock,<br>Who tied his hands and bound him to a tree<br>Face 'gainst the wood, that none his front might see;<br>And while the cruel troop, with rage inflamed,<br>Considered of rewards that vengeance framed;<br>While some the besoms from the kitchen brought;<br>And others, in the convent ars'nal sought<br>The various instruments the sisters used<br>To punish when obedience was refused;<br>Another double-locked, within a room.<br>The nuns of tender hearts and youthful bloom:--<br>By chance, a friend to sly gallants appeared,<br>And soon removed, what most our hero feared:<br>A miller mounted on his mule came by,<br>A tight-built active lad with piercing eye;<br>One much admired by all the girls around;<br>Played well at kayles:--a good companion found.<br>Aha! cried he, what's here?--a nice affair;<br>Young man, pray tell me who has placed thee there?<br>The sisters, say'st thou?--hast thou had thy fun,<br>And pleased thy fancy with a wanton nun?<br>Art satisfied?--and was she pretty too?<br>In truth, to judge by what appears to view,<br>Thou seemest thoroughly a wily wight,<br>That convent belles would relish morn and night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALAS! replied the other with a sigh,<br>In vain the nuns my virtue sought to try;<br>'Twas my misfortune:--patience heav'n bestow;<br>For worlds such wickedness I would not know.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE miller laughed at what the other spoke;<br>Untied his hands, and ev'ry bandage broke.<br>Said he, thou ninny, scruples can'st thou find<br>To counteract, and prove to pleasure blind?<br>The business clearly should to me belong;<br>Our rector ne'er had thought such conduct wrong,<br>And never would have played the fool like this;<br>Fly, haste away, away; I'll thee dismiss,<br>First having nicely set me in thy place;<br>Like me thou wert not formed for soft embrace;<br>I'm stout and able:--quarter ne'er will ask;<br>Come ALL, these nuns, I'll execute the task,<br>And many pranks they'll see, unless a freak<br>Should happen any way the string to break.<br>The other never asked his wishes twice,<br>But tied him well, and left him in a trice.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITH shoulders broad the miller you might see;<br>In Adam's birth-attire against the tree,<br>Await the coming of the aged band,<br>Who soon appeared, with tapers in the hand,<br>In solemn guise, and whips and scourges dire:<br>The virgin troop (as convent laws require)<br>In full procession moved around the Wight;<br>Without allowing time to catch his sight,<br>Or giving notice what they meant to do:<br>How now! cried he:--why won't you take a view?<br>Deceived you are; regard me well I pray;<br>I'm not the silly fool you had to-day,<br>Who woman hates, and scruples seeks to raise:<br>Employ but me, and soon I'll gain your praise;<br>I'll wonders execute; my strength appears;<br>And; if I fail, at once cut off my ears.<br>At certain pleasant play I'm clever found;<br>But as to whips--I never was renowned.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHAT means the fellow? cried a toothless nun;<br>What would he tell us? Hast thou nothing done?<br>How!--Art thou not our brat-begetter?--speak;<br>So much the worse:--on thee our rage we'll wreak,<br>For him that's gone we'll make thee suffer now;<br>Once arms in hand, we never will allow<br>Such characters full punishment to miss;<br>The play that we desire is THIS and THIS;<br>Then whips and scourges round him 'gan to move,<br>And not a little troublesome to prove<br>The miller, writhing with the poignant smart,<br>Cried loudly:--I'll exert my utmost art,<br>Good ladies, to perform what is your due;<br>The more he bawled, the faster lashes flew.<br>This work so well the aged troop achieved,<br>He long remembered what his skin received.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHILE thus the master chastisement had got;<br>His mule was feeding on the verdant spot.<br>But what became of this or that, at last,<br>I've never heard, and care not how it past.<br>'Tis quite enough to save the young gallant,<br>And more particulars we do not want.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My readers, for a time, could they obtain<br>A dozen nuns like these, where beauties reign,<br>Would doubtless not be seen without their dress!<br>We do not always ev'ry wish express.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=La+Fontaine">La Fontaine</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431394" data-title="The Spectacles de La Fontaine" data-description="I LATELY vowed to leave the nuns alone,
So oft their freaks have in my page been shown.
The subject may at length fatigue the mind;
My Muse the veil howe'er is still inclined,
Conspicuously to hold to publick view,
And, 'mong the sisters, scene an..."></div>
</div>
</div>