[Page 265]
The Je ne scai Quoi.
A SONG.
I.
1 YES, I'm in love, I feel it now,
2 And CAELIA has undone me;
3 And yet I'll swear I can't tell how
4 The pleasing plague stole on me.
II.
5 'Tis not her face which love creates,
6 For there no graces revel;
7 'Tis not her shape, for there the fates
8 Have rather been uncivil.
III.
[Page 266]9 'Tis not her air, for sure in that
10 There's nothing more than common;
11 And all her sense is only chat,
12 Like any other woman.
IV.
13 Her voice, her touch might give th' alarm —
14 'Twas both perhaps, or neither;
15 In short, 'twas that provoking charm
16 Of CAELIA altogether.
About this text
Author: William Whitehead
Themes:
sex; relations between the sexes; love
Genres:
ballad metre; song
References:
DMI 22459
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. II. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 265-266. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.002) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
Editorial principles
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.
Other works by William Whitehead
- The DANGER of Writing VERSE. An EPISTLE. ()
- ELEGY I. Written at the CONVENT of HAUT VILLERS in CHAMPAGNE, 1754. ()
- ELEGY II. On the MAUSOLEUM of AUGUSTUS. To the Right Honourable George Bussy Villiers, Viscount Villiers. Written at ROME, 1756. ()
- ELEGY III. To the Right Honourable George Simon Harcourt, Visc. Newnham. Written at ROME, 1756. ()
- ELEGY IV. To an OFFICER. Written at Rome, 1756. ()
- ELEGY V. To a FRIEND Sick. Written at Rome, 1756. ()
- ELEGY VI. To another FRIEND. Written at Rome, 1756. ()
- THE ENTHUSIAST: AN ODE. ()
- EXTRACTED FROM MR. W. WHITEHEAD's CHARGE to the POETS. ()
- The LYRIC MUSE to Mr. MASON. On the Recovery of the Right Honourable the Earl of HOLDERNESSE from a dangerous Illness. ()
- NATURE to Dr. HOADLY. On his Comedy of the SUSPICIOUS HUSBAND. ()
- An ODE to a GENTLEMAN, On his pitching a Tent in his GARDEN. ()
- ODE TO THE TIBER. WRITTEN ABROAD. ()
- On a MESSAGE-CARD in Verse. Sent by a LADY. ()
- SONG for RANELAGH. ()
- To Mr. GARRICK. ()
- To Mr. MASON. ()
- To the Honourable *** ()
- VERSES to the People of ENGLAND 1758. ()
- The YOUTH and the PHILOSOPHER. A FABLE. ()