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=457167" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Paulo Purganti And His Wife: An Honest, But A Simple Pair</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Beyond the fix'd and settl'd Rules<br>Of Vice and Virtue in the Schools,<br>Beyond the Letter of the Law,<br>Which keeps our Men and Maids in Awe,<br>The better Sort should set before 'em<br>A Grace, a Manner, a Decorum;<br>Something, that gives their Acts a Light;<br>Makes 'em not only just, but bright;<br>And sets 'em in that open Fame,<br>Which witty Malice cannot blame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For 'tis in Life, as 'tis in Painting:<br>Much may be Right, yet much be Wanting:<br>From Lines drawn true, our Eye may trace<br>A Foot, a Knee, a Hand, a Face:<br>May justly own the Picture wrought<br>Exact to Rule, exempt from Fault:<br>Yet if the Colouring be not there,<br>The Titian Stroke, the Guido Air;<br>To nicest Judgment show the Piece;<br>At best 'twill only not displease:<br>It would not gain on Jersey's Eye:<br>Bradford would frown, and set it by.<br>Thus in the Picture of our Mind<br>The Action may be well design'd;<br>Guided by Law, and bound by Duty;<br>Yet want this Je ne sçay quoy of Beauty:<br>And tho' it's Error may be such,<br>As Knags and Burgess cannot hit;<br>It yet may feel the nicer Touch<br>Of Wicherley's or Congreve's Wit.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What is this Talk? replies a Friend:<br>And where will this dry Moral end?<br>The Truth of what You here lay down<br>By some Example should be shown.-<br>With all my Heart,-for once;—read on.<br>An Honest, but a Simple Pair<br>(And Twenty other I forbear)<br>May serve to make this Thesis clear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A Doctor of great Skill and Fame,<br>Paulo Purganti was his Name,<br>Had a good, comely, virtuous Wife:<br>No Woman led a better Life:<br>She to Intrigues was ev'n hard-hearted:<br>She chuckl'd when a Bawd was carted:<br>And thought the Nation ne'er wou'd thrive,<br>'Till all the bunnys were burnt alive.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">On marry'd Men, that dare be bad,<br>She thought no Mercy should be had;<br>They should be hang'd, or starv'd, or flead,<br>Or serv'd like Romish Priests in Swede.-<br>In short, all Lewdness She defy'd:<br>And stiff was her Parochial Pride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet in an honest Way, the Dame<br>Was a great Lover of That same;<br>And could from Scripture take her Cue,<br>That Husbands should give Wives their Due.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her Prudence did so justly steer<br>Between the Gay and the Severe,<br>That if in some Regards She chose<br>To curb poor Paulo in too close;<br>In others She relax'd again,<br>And govern'd with a looser Rein.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thus tho' She strictly did confine<br>The Doctor from Excess of Wine;<br>With Oysters, Eggs, and Vermicelli<br>She let Him almost burst his Belly:<br>Thus drying Coffee was deny'd;<br>But Chocolate that Loss supply'd:<br>And for Tobacco (who could bear it?)<br>Filthy Concomitant of Claret!<br>(Blest Revolution!) one might see<br>Eringo Roots, and Bohé Tea.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She often set the Doctor's Band,<br>And strok'd his Beard, and squeez'd his Hand:<br>Kindly complain'd, that after Noon<br>He went to pore on Books too soon:<br>She held it wholesomer by much,<br>To rest a little on the Couch:—<br>About his Waste in Bed a-nights<br>She clung so close—for fear of Sprites.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Doctor understood the Call;<br>But had not always wherewithal.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Lion's Skin too short, you know,<br>(As Plutarch's Morals finely show)<br>Was lengthen'd by the Fox's Tail:<br>And Art supplies, where Strength may fail.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Unwilling then in Arms to meet<br>The Enemy, He could not beat;<br>He strove to lengthen the Campaign,<br>And save his Forces by Chicane.<br>Fabius, the Roman Chief, who thus<br>By fair Retreat grew Maximus,<br>Shows us, that all that Warrior can do<br>With Force inferior, is Cunctando.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One Day then, as the Foe drew near,<br>With Love, and Joy, and Life, and Dear;<br>Our Don, who knew this Tittle Tattle<br>Did, sure as Trumpet, call to Battel;<br>Thought it extreamly à propos,<br>To ward against the coming Blow:<br>To ward: but how? Ay, there's the Question:<br>Fierce the Assault, unarm'd the Bastion.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Doctor feign'd a strange Surprise:<br>He felt her Pulse: he view'd her Eyes:<br>That beat too fast: These rowl'd too quick:<br>She was, He said, or would be Sick:<br>He judg'd it absolutely good,<br>That She should purge and cleanse her Blood.<br>Spaw Waters for that end were got:<br>If they past easily or not,<br>What matters it? the Lady's Feaver<br>Continu'd violent as ever.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For a Distemper of this Kind,<br>(Blackmore and Hans are of my Mind)<br>If once it youthful Blood infects,<br>And chiefly of the Female Sex;<br>Is scarce remov'd by Pill or Potion;<br>What-e'er might be our Doctor's Notion.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One luckless Night then, as in Bed<br>The Doctor and the Dame were laid;<br>Again this cruel Feaver came,<br>High Pulse, short Breath, and Blood in Flame.<br>What Measures shall poor Paulo keep<br>With Madam, in this piteous taking?<br>She, like Macbeth, has murder'd Sleep,<br>And won't allow Him Rest, tho' waking.<br>Sad State of Matters! when We dare<br>Nor ask for Peace, nor offer War:<br>Nor Livy nor Comines have shown,<br>What in this Juncture may be done.<br>Grotius might own, that Paulo's Case is<br>Harder, than any which He places<br>Amongst his Belli and his Pacis.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He strove, alas! but strove in vain,<br>By dint of Logic to maintain,<br>That all the Sex was born to grieve,<br>Down to her Ladyship from Eve.<br>He rang'd his Tropes, and preach'd up Patience;<br>Back'd his Opinion with Quotations,<br>Divines and Moralists; and run ye on<br>Quite thro' from Seneca to Bunyan.<br>As much in vain He bid Her try<br>To fold her Arms, to close her Eye;<br>Telling Her, Rest would do Her Good;<br>If any thing in Nature cou'd:<br>So held the Greeks quite down from Galen,<br>Masters and Princes of the Calling:<br>So all our Modern Friends maintain<br>(Tho' no great Greeks) in Warwick-Lane.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Reduce, my Muse, the wand'ring Song:<br>A Tale should never be too long.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The more He talk'd, the more She burn'd,<br>And sigh'd, and tost, and groan'd, and turn'd:<br>At last, I wish, said She, my Dear-<br>(And whisper'd something in his Ear)<br>You wish! wish on, the Doctor cries:<br>Lord! when will Womankind be wise?<br>What, in your Waters? are You mad?<br>Why Poyson is not half so bad.<br>I'll do it-But I give You Warning:<br>You'll die before To-morrow Morning.-<br>'Tis kind, my Dear, what You advise;<br>The Lady with a Sigh replies:<br>But Life, You know, at best is Pain:<br>And Death is what We should disdain<br>So do it therefore, and Adieu:<br>For I will die for Love of You:-<br>Let wanton Wives by Death be scar'd:<br>But, to my Comfort, I'm prepar'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Matthew+Prior">Matthew Prior</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=457167" data-title="Paulo Purganti And His Wife: An Honest, But A Simple Pair de Matthew Prior" data-description="Beyond the fix'd and settl'd Rules
Of Vice and Virtue in the Schools,
Beyond the Letter of the Law,
Which keeps our Men and Maids in Awe,
The better Sort should set before 'em
A Grace, a Manner, a Decorum;
Something, that gives their Acts a Light;..."></div>
</div>
</div>