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[Page 172]
SONG for RANELAGH.
I.
1 YE belles, and ye flirts, and ye pert little things,
2 Who trip in this frolicksome round,
3 Pray tell me from whence this indecency springs,
4 The sexes at once to confound:
5 What means the cock'd hat, and the masculine air,
6 With each motion design'd to perplex?
7 Bright eyes were intended to languish, not stare,
8 And softness the test of your sex.
II.
[Page 173]9 The girl who on beauty depends for support,
10 May call ev'ry art to her aid:
11 The bosom display'd, and the petticoat short,
12 Are samples she gives of her trade.
13 But you, on whom Fortune indulgently smiles,
14 And whom Pride has preserv'd from the snare;
15 Should slily attack us, with coyness and wiles,
16 Not with open and insolent air.
III.
17 The Venus whose statue delights all mankind
18 Shrinks modestly back from the view,
19 And kindly shou'd seem by the artist design'd
20 To serve as a model for you.
21 Then learn with her beauties to copy her air,
22 Nor venture too much to reveal;
23 Our fancies will paint what you cover with care,
24 And double each charm you conceal.
IV.
25 The blushes of Morn, and the mildness of May,
26 Are charms which no art can procure;
27 Oh! be but yourselves, and our homage we pay,
28 And your empire is solid and sure.
29 But if Amazon like you attack your gallants,
30 And put us in fear of our lives,
31 You may do very well for sisters and aunts,
32 But believe me you'll never be wives.
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(Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
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About this text
Author: William Whitehead
Themes:
women; female character
Genres:
song
References:
DMI 25494
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. IV. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 172-173. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.004) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
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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 Je ne scai Quoi. A SONG. ()
- 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. ()
- To Mr. GARRICK. ()
- To Mr. MASON. ()
- To the Honourable *** ()
- VERSES to the People of ENGLAND 1758. ()
- The YOUTH and the PHILOSOPHER. A FABLE. ()