"Let all her Ways be unconfin'd: / And clap your Padlock--on her Mind"
— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1705, 1709
Metaphor
"Let all her Ways be unconfin'd: / And clap your Padlock--on her Mind"
Metaphor in Context
Dear angry Friend, what must be done?
Is there no Way?--There is but One,
Send Her abroad; and let Her see,
That all this mingled Mass, which She
Being forbidden longs to know,
Is a dull Farce, an empty Show,
Powder, and Pocket-Glass, and Beau;
A Staple of Romance and Lies,
False Tears, and real Perjuries:
Where Sighs and Looks are bought and sold;
And Love is made but to be told:
Where the fat Bawd, and lavish Heir
The Spoils of ruin'd Beauty share:
And Youth seduc'd from Friends and Fame,
Must give up Age to Want and Shame.
Let Her behold the Frantick Scene,
The Women wretched, false the Men:
And when, these certain Ills to shun,
She would to Thy Embraces run;
Receive Her with extended Arms:
Seem more delighted with her Charms:
Wait on Her to the Park and Play:
Put on good Humour; make Her gay:
Be to her Virtues very kind:
Be to her Faults a little blind:
Let all her Ways be unconfin'd:
And clap your Padlock--on her Mind.
(p. 109, ll. 55-81)
Is there no Way?--There is but One,
Send Her abroad; and let Her see,
That all this mingled Mass, which She
Being forbidden longs to know,
Is a dull Farce, an empty Show,
Powder, and Pocket-Glass, and Beau;
A Staple of Romance and Lies,
False Tears, and real Perjuries:
Where Sighs and Looks are bought and sold;
And Love is made but to be told:
Where the fat Bawd, and lavish Heir
The Spoils of ruin'd Beauty share:
And Youth seduc'd from Friends and Fame,
Must give up Age to Want and Shame.
Let Her behold the Frantick Scene,
The Women wretched, false the Men:
And when, these certain Ills to shun,
She would to Thy Embraces run;
Receive Her with extended Arms:
Seem more delighted with her Charms:
Wait on Her to the Park and Play:
Put on good Humour; make Her gay:
Be to her Virtues very kind:
Be to her Faults a little blind:
Let all her Ways be unconfin'd:
And clap your Padlock--on her Mind.
(p. 109, ll. 55-81)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
First printed in The Diverting Post (30 December-6 January, 1704/5).
See An English Padlock (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1705). <Link to ECCO>
See also the slightly longer version in Poems on Several Occasions (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1709 [1708]). <Link to ECCO>
Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears, 2 vols. Second Edition (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1971).
See An English Padlock (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1705). <Link to ECCO>
See also the slightly longer version in Poems on Several Occasions (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1709 [1708]). <Link to ECCO>
Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears, 2 vols. Second Edition (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1971).
Date of Entry
02/25/2004
Date of Review
05/23/2011
