"By Law and Inclination doubly joyn'd, / Both acted by one Sympathetick Mind. / Whom Wedlock's Silken Chains as softly tye, / As that which when asunder snapt, we dye, / Which makes the Soul and Body's wondrous harmony."
— Ames, Richard (bap. 1664?, d. 1692)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for H. N. and Sold by R. Baldwin
Date
1691
Metaphor
"By Law and Inclination doubly joyn'd, / Both acted by one Sympathetick Mind. / Whom Wedlock's Silken Chains as softly tye, / As that which when asunder snapt, we dye, / Which makes the Soul and Body's wondrous harmony."
Metaphor in Context
Degenerate Race! Your own and Natures Foe:
Ah! that your Fathers never had done so!
And yet in truth 'twou'd bear a long debate,
If this whole Age be'nt illegitimate?
By their loose Sires with Rage and Brandy hot,
In Leagures on the Sutlers Wives begot.
Since nothing they but Drabs and Drinking mind,
So true the Proverb, Cat will after kind.
Tho some there are, so very good and few,
That if enough might Plant the VVorld anew.
Not made like those Sown on Earths fertile Face,
Old Pyrrhu's and Deucalion's Stony Race,
But warm'd with gentle Fire and gentle Love,
As Pure and Constant as the Lamps above.
By Law and Inclination doubly joyn'd,
Both acted by one Sympathetick Mind.
Whom Wedlock's Silken Chains as softly tye,
As that which when asunder snapt, we dye,
Which makes the Soul and Body's wondrous harmony.
Thrice Happy they in those soft Fetters ty'd,
The Fatal Sisters only can divide;
Who for no other Mastry ever strove,
But whether of the two should better Love,
As kind as when the Youth did first pretend,
(Passions on Virtue founded never end)
For tho in Age their Tops less verdant show,
Their flour'shing twisted Roots still stronger grow.
No churlish Feuds disturb their blest Abodes,
All calm, as are the Dwellings of the Gods.
No little peevish Quarrels enter there,
No noise but Sighs which Fan the Amorous Air,
And all like Tempe still, and all like Tempe Fair.
Jealousy's Banish'd thence, and Rage and Pride,
And all the Torments of the World beside,
Sweet Peace their close Attendant, Love their Guide.
All the white Passions that delight to rest,
With Innocence in every constant Breast;
Pleasures which Guilt, nor Time, nor Age destroy,
Grateful Vicissitudes of Hope and Joy.
(pp. 19-20)
Ah! that your Fathers never had done so!
And yet in truth 'twou'd bear a long debate,
If this whole Age be'nt illegitimate?
By their loose Sires with Rage and Brandy hot,
In Leagures on the Sutlers Wives begot.
Since nothing they but Drabs and Drinking mind,
So true the Proverb, Cat will after kind.
Tho some there are, so very good and few,
That if enough might Plant the VVorld anew.
Not made like those Sown on Earths fertile Face,
Old Pyrrhu's and Deucalion's Stony Race,
But warm'd with gentle Fire and gentle Love,
As Pure and Constant as the Lamps above.
By Law and Inclination doubly joyn'd,
Both acted by one Sympathetick Mind.
Whom Wedlock's Silken Chains as softly tye,
As that which when asunder snapt, we dye,
Which makes the Soul and Body's wondrous harmony.
Thrice Happy they in those soft Fetters ty'd,
The Fatal Sisters only can divide;
Who for no other Mastry ever strove,
But whether of the two should better Love,
As kind as when the Youth did first pretend,
(Passions on Virtue founded never end)
For tho in Age their Tops less verdant show,
Their flour'shing twisted Roots still stronger grow.
No churlish Feuds disturb their blest Abodes,
All calm, as are the Dwellings of the Gods.
No little peevish Quarrels enter there,
No noise but Sighs which Fan the Amorous Air,
And all like Tempe still, and all like Tempe Fair.
Jealousy's Banish'd thence, and Rage and Pride,
And all the Torments of the World beside,
Sweet Peace their close Attendant, Love their Guide.
All the white Passions that delight to rest,
With Innocence in every constant Breast;
Pleasures which Guilt, nor Time, nor Age destroy,
Grateful Vicissitudes of Hope and Joy.
(pp. 19-20)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Richard Ames, The Pleasures of Love and Marriage, A Poem In Praise of the Fair Sex. In Requital for The Folly of Love, and some other late Satyrs on Women (London: Printed for H. N. and are to be Sold by R. Baldwin at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1691). <Link to EEBO-TCP><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
06/29/2011
