[Page 201]

The TALKATIVE FAIR.

BALLAD IV.

I.
1 FROM morn to night, from day to day,
2 At all times and at every place,
3 You scold, repeat, and sing, and say,
4 Nor are there hopes, you'll ever cease.
II.
5 Forbear, my Celia, oh! forbear,
6 If your own health, or ours you prize;
7 For all mankind that hear you, swear
8 Your tongue's more killing than your eyes.
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III.
9 Your tongue's a traytor to your face,
10 Your fame's by your own noise obscur'd,
11 All are distracted while they gaze;
12 But if they listen, they are cur'd.
IV.
13 Your silence wou'd acquire more praise,
14 Than all you say, or all I write;
15 One look ten thousand charms displays;
16 Then hush and be an angel quite.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The TALKATIVE FAIR. BALLAD IV.
Themes: virtue; vice
Genres: ballad metre

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Source edition

Smart, Christopher, 1722-1771. Poems on several occasions: By Christopher Smart, A. M. Fellow of Pembroke-Hall, Cambridge. London: printed for the author, by W. Strahan; and sold by J. Newbery, at the Bible and Sun, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, MDCCLII., 1752, pp. 201-202. [16],230p.,plates; 4⁰. (ESTC T42626; OTA K041581.000) (Page images digitized from microfilm of a copy in the Bodleian Library [2799 d 134].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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