[Page 64]
To his Friend inclin'd to Marry.
1 I would not have you, Strephon, chuse a Mate
2 From too exalted, or too mean a State:
3 For in both these, we may expect to find
4 A creeping Spirit, or a haughty Mind.
5 Who moves within the Middle Region, shares
6 The least Disquiets, and the smallest Cares.
7 Let her Extraction with true Lustre shine,
8 If something brighter, not too bright for thine.
9 Her Education liberal, not great,
10 Neither Inferiour, nor above her State.
11 Let her have Wit, but let that Wit be free
12 From Affectation, Pride, and Pedantry:
13 For the effect of Woman's Wit is such,
14 Too little is as dangerous, as too much.
15 But chiefly let her Humour close with thine,
16 Unless where yours does to a Fault incline.
17 The least Disparity in this destroys,
18 Like sulph'rous Blasts, the very Buds of Joys.
[Page 65]19 Her Person amiable, strait, and free
20 From natural, or chance Deformity.
21 Let not her Years exceed, if equal thine,
22 For Women past their Vigour soon decline;
23 Her Fortune competent, and if thy Sight
24 Can reach so far, take care 'tis gather'd right.
25 If thine's enough, then hers may be the less,
26 Do not aspire to Riches in excess;
27 For that which makes our Lives delightful prove,
28 Is a genteel Sufficiency, and Love.
About this text
Author: John Pomfret
Themes:
women; female character; marriage
Genres:
heroic couplet; address
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Pomfret, John, 1667-1702. Poems upon Several Occasions. By the Reverend Mr. John Pomfret [poems only]. The Sixth Edition, Corrected. With some Account Of his Life and Writings. To which are added, His Remains. London: printed for D. Brown without Temple Bar, J. Walthoe in the Temple Cloysters, A. Bettesworth, and E. Taylor, in Pater-Noster-Row, and J. Hooke in Fleetstreet, 1724, pp. 64-65. [12], 132, vi, 17p. (ESTC N21233)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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 John Pomfret
- The Choice. ()
- Cruelty and Lust. An Epistolary Essay. ()
- Dies Novissima: OR, THE LAST EPIPHANY. A Pindarick Ode, on Christ's Second Appearance to Judge the World. ()
- Eleazer's Lamentation over Jerusalem; paraphrased out of Josephus. ()
- An Epistle to Delia. ()
- The Fortunate Complaint. ()
- An Inscription for the Monument of Diana Countess of Oxford and Elgin. ()
- LOVE Triumphant over REASON. A Vision. ()
- On the General Conflagration, and ensuing Judgment. A Pindaric Essay. ()
- On the Marriage of the Earl of A— with the Countess of S— ()
- A Pastoral Essay on the Death of Queen Mary, Anno, 1694. ()
- A Prospect of Death. A Pindaric Essay. ()
- REASON: A POEM. ()
- Strephon's Love for Delia justified: In an Epistle to Celadon. ()
- To a Painter, drawing Dorinda's Picture. ()
- To another Friend under Affliction. ()
- To his Friend under Affliction. ()
- To the Painter, after he had finish'd Dorinda's Picture. ()
- Upon the Divine Attributes. A Pindaric Essay. ()