"Fastidious Prudes, on Spleen's black palfrey vault, / Chaste to a proverb, virtuous to a fault."
— Jones, Jenkin [Captain] (fl. 1798)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
M. Allen
Date
1798 [1797?]
Metaphor
"Fastidious Prudes, on Spleen's black palfrey vault, / Chaste to a proverb, virtuous to a fault."
Metaphor in Context
Some wretches shut their eyes to reason's light,
Their evil habits wantonly invite,
To headstrong passions yield without remorse,
Call each prevailing whim, their Hobby Horse,
And screen'd beneath the sanction of that name,
Freely indulge their vices without shame.
Ask you the grave the reason they have err'd,
They claim protection from that magic word,
Exert no art the growing ill to crush,
And own their Fooleries without a blush.
Some men are never off their horses backs,
And shortly drudge them into common hacks.
Nor do the ladies scorn with these to side,
They all keep Hobbies, and as hard can ride.
The fair inconstant, keeps a skittish pet,
A flirting, flaunting silley, call'd coquette.
Fastidious Prudes, on Spleen's black palfrey vault,
Chaste to a proverb, virtuous to a fault,
Reserv'd, demure, dissocial, sullen, sly,
Scorn in their sneers, and malice in their eye,
Still in extremes, too talkative, too mute,
Shy to converse, but eager to dispute. [...]
(pp. 3-4)
Their evil habits wantonly invite,
To headstrong passions yield without remorse,
Call each prevailing whim, their Hobby Horse,
And screen'd beneath the sanction of that name,
Freely indulge their vices without shame.
Ask you the grave the reason they have err'd,
They claim protection from that magic word,
Exert no art the growing ill to crush,
And own their Fooleries without a blush.
Some men are never off their horses backs,
And shortly drudge them into common hacks.
Nor do the ladies scorn with these to side,
They all keep Hobbies, and as hard can ride.
The fair inconstant, keeps a skittish pet,
A flirting, flaunting silley, call'd coquette.
Fastidious Prudes, on Spleen's black palfrey vault,
Chaste to a proverb, virtuous to a fault,
Reserv'd, demure, dissocial, sullen, sly,
Scorn in their sneers, and malice in their eye,
Still in extremes, too talkative, too mute,
Shy to converse, but eager to dispute. [...]
(pp. 3-4)
Categories
Provenance
Reading at the Folger
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1798).
Jenkin Jones, Hobby Horses: A Poetic Allegory (London: Printed for M. Allen, 1798). <Link to ESTC>
Jenkin Jones, Hobby Horses: A Poetic Allegory (London: Printed for M. Allen, 1798). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
05/16/2013
