"A Ridicule"
(included in Cliff Valentines)
Dear Lady, would you well employ
This useful monitory Joy?
Thus let your Valentine unfold
What best your Ridicule may hold.
The Coxcombs pert protracted Gaze;
Loquacious Flattry’s common Praise,
The practis’d sighs of known Deceivers,
The arguments of Unbelievers,
Cold affections week Inanity,
The whisper’d Fibs of dan’grous vanity;
All these are Tricks of Folly’s school,
And well deserve your_Ridicule;
When Reason bids your Heart approve
Tried merit, constancy and Love,
Your Ridicule to prud’ry give,
And let affection’s Blossoms live:
While Modesty and Candour join
Their smiles to cheer your Valentine,
Forswear Coquett’ry’s tyrant Rule
Nor make him bear your Ridicule.