15 I shudder at the new unpictur'd scene,
16 Where unsex'd woman vaunts the imperious mien;
17 Where girls, affecting to dismiss the heart,
18 Invoke the Proteus of petrific art;
19 With equal ease, in body or in mind,
20 To Gallic freaks or Gallic faith resign'd,
21 The crane-like neck, as Fashion bids, lay bare,
22 Or frizzle, bold in front, their borrow'd hair;
23 Scarce by a gossamery film carest,
24 Sport,7 in full view, the meretricious breast;8
25 Loose the chaste cincture, where the graces shone,
26 And languish'd all the Loves, the ambrosial zone;
27 As lordly domes inspire dramatic rage,
28 Court prurient Fancy to the private stage;
29 With bliss botanic9 as their bosoms heave,
30 Still pluck forbidden fruit, with mother Eve,
31 For puberty in sighing florets pant,
32 Or point the prostitution of a plant;
33 Dissect10 its organ of unhallow'd lust,
34 And fondly gaze the titillating11 dust;12
35 With liberty's sublimer views expand,13
36 And o'er the wreck of kingdoms14 sternly stand;
37 And, frantic, midst the democratic storm,
38 Pursue, Philosophy! thy phantom-form.15
39 Far other is the female shape and mind,
40 By modest luxury heighten'd and refin'd;
41 Those limbs, that figure, tho' by Fashion16 grac'd,
42 By Beauty polish'd, and adorn'd by Taste;
43 That soul, whose harmony perennial flows,
44 In Music trembles, and in Color glows;
45 Which bids sweet Poesy reclaim the praise
46 With faery light to gild fastidious days,
47 From sullen clouds relieve domestic care,
48 And melt in smiles the withering frown of war.
49 Ah! once the female Muse, to NATURE true,
50 The unvalued store from FANCY, FEELING drew;
51 Won, from the grasp of woe, the roseate hours,
52 Cheer'd life's dim vale, and strew'd the grave with flowers.
53 But lo! where, pale amidst the wild,17 she draws
54 Each precept cold from sceptic Reason's18 vase;
55 Pours with rash arm the turbid stream along,
56 And in the foaming torrent whelms the throng.19
57 Alas! her pride sophistic flings a gloom,
63 See Wollstonecraft, whom no decorum checks,
67 "Go, go (she cries) ye tribes of melting maids,
58 To chase, sweet Innocence! thy vernal bloom,
59 Of each light joy to damp the genial glow,
60 And with new terrors clothe the groupe of woe,
61 Quench the pure daystar20 in oblivion deep,
62 And, Death! restore thy "long, unbroken sleep."21
64 Arise, the intrepid champion of her sex;
65 O'er humbled man assert the sovereign claim,
66 And slight the timid blush22 of virgin fame.
68 "Go, screen your softness in sequester'd shades;
69 "With plaintive whispers woo the unconscious grove,
70 "And feebly perish, as depis'd ye love.
71 "What tho' the fine Romances of Rousseau
72 "Bid the frame flutter, and the bosom glow;
73 "Tho' the rapt Bard, your empire fond to own,
74 "Fall prostrate and adore your living throne,
75 "The living throne
76 "Its seat a simper, and its base a tear;23
77 "Soon shall the sex disdain the illusive sway,
78 "And wield the sceptre in yon blaze of day;24
79 "Ere long, each little artifice discard,
80 "No more by weakness25 winning fond regard;
81 "Nor eyes, that sparkle from their blushes, roll,
82 "Nor catch the languors of the sick'ning soul,
83 "Nor the quick flutter, nor the coy reserve,
84 "But nobly boast the firm gymnastic nerve;26
85 "Nor more affect with Delicacy's fan
86 "To hide the emotion from congenial man;
87 "To the bold heights where glory beams, aspire,
88 "Blend mental energy with Passion's fire,
89 "Surpass their rivals in the powers of mind
90 "And vindicate the Rights of womankind."
91 She spoke: and veteran BARBAULD27 caught the strain,
92 And deem'd her songs of Love, her Lyrics vain;
93 And ROBINSON28 to Gaul her Fancy gave,
94 And trac'd the picture of a Deist's grave!
95 And charming SMITH29 resign'd her power to please,
96 Poetic feeling and poetic ease;
97 And HELEN,30 fir'd by Freedom, bade adieu
98 To all the broken visions of Peru;
99 And YEARSELEY,31 who had warbled, Nature's child,
100 Midst twilight dews, her minstrel ditties wild,
101 (Tho' soon a wanderer from her meads and milk,
102 She long'd to rustle, like her sex, in silk)
103 Now stole the modish grin, the sapient sneer,`
104 And flippant HAYS32 assum'd a cynic leer;
105 While classic KAUFFMAN33 her Priapus drew,
106 And linger'd a sweet blush with EMMA CREWE.34
107 Yet, say, ye Fair, with man's tyrannic host,
108 Say, where the battles ye so proudly boast,
109 While, urg'd to triumph by the Spartan fife,35
110 Corporeal struggles mix'd with mental strife?
111 Where, the plum'd chieftain of your chosen train,
112 To fabricate your laws, and fix your reign?
113 Say, hath her eye its lightnings flash'd, to scath
114 The bloom young Pleasure sheds on Glory's path;
115 Her ear, indignant as she march'd along,
116 Scorn'd every charm of soft lascivious song?
117 Say, hath she view'd, if pass'd the mourner by,
118 The drooping form, nor heav'd one female sigh;
119 Arm'd with proud intellect, at fortune laugh'd,36
120 Mock'd the vain threat, and brav'd the envenom'd shaft?
121 Say, hath your chief the ideal depths explor'd,37
122 Amid the flaming tracts of spirit soar'd,
123 And from base earth, by Reason's vigor borne,
124 Hail'd the fair beams of Mind's expanding morn?
125 Alas! in every aspiration bold,
126 I saw the creature of a mortal mould:
127 Yes! not untrembling (tho' I half ador'd
128 A mind by Genius fraught, by Science stor'd)
129 I saw the Heroine mount the dazzling dome
130 Where Shakspeare's spirit kindled, to illume
131 His favourite FUSELI, and with magic might
132 To earthly sense unlock'd a world of light!
133 Full soon, amid the high pictorial blaze,
134 I saw a Sibyl-transport in her gaze:
135 To the great Artist, from his wondrous Art,
136 I saw transferr'd the whole enraptur'd Heart;
137 Till, mingling soul with soul, in airy trance,
138 Enlighten'd and inspir'd at every glance,
139 And from the dross of appetite refin'd,38
140 And, grasping at angelic food, all mind,
141 Down from the empyreal heights she sunk, betray'd
142 To poor Philosophy---a love-sick maid!39
143 ----But hark! lascivious murmurs melt around;
144 And pleasure trembles in each dying sound.
145 A myrtle bower, in fairest bloom array'd,
146 To laughing Venus streams the silver shade:
147 Thrill'd with fine ardors Collinsonias glow,40
148 And, bending, breathe their loose desires below.
149 Each gentle air a swelling anther heaves,
150 Wafts its full sweets, and shivers thro' the leaves.
151 Bath'd in new bliss, the Fair-one greets the bower,
152 And ravishes a flame from every flower;
153 Low at her feet inhales the master's sighs,
154 And darts voluptuous poison from her eyes.
155 Yet, while each heart-pulse, in the Paphian grove,
156 Beats quick to IMLAY and licentious love,41
157 A sudden gloom the gathering tempest spreads;
158 The floral arch-work withers o'er their heads;
159 Whirlwinds the paramours asunder tear;
160 And wisdom falls, the victim of despair.42
161 And dost thou rove, with no internal light,43
162 Poor maniac! thro' the stormy waste of night?
163 Hast thou no sense of guilt to be forgiv'n,
164 No comforter on earth, no hope in Heaven?
165 Stay, stay---thine impious arrogance restrain---
166 What tho' the flood may quench thy burning brain,
167 Rash woman! can its whelming wave bestow
168 Oblivion, to blot out eternal woe?
169 "O come (a voice seraphic seems to say)
170 "Fly that pale form---come sisters! come away.
171 "Come, from those livid limbs withdraw your gaze,
172 "Those limbs which Virtue views in mute amaze;
173 "Nor deem, that Genius lends a veil, to hide
174 "The dire apostate, the fell suicide.44----
175 "Come, join, with wonted smiles, a kindred train,
176 "Who court, like you, the Muse; nor court in vain.
177 "Mark, where the sex have oft, in ancient days,45
178 "To modest Virtue, claim'd a nation's praise;
179 "Chas'd from the public scene the fiend of strife,
180 "And shed a radiance o'er luxurious life;
181 "In silken fetters bound the obedient throng,
182 "And soften'd despots by the power of song.
183 "Yet woman owns a more extensive sway
184 "Where Heaven's own graces pour the living ray:
185 "And vast its influence o'er the social ties,
186 "By Heaven inform'd, if female genius rise46---
187 "Its power how vast, in critic wisdom sage,
188 "If MONTAGUE47 refine a letter'd age;
189 "And CARTER,48 with a milder air, diffuse
190 "The moral precepts of the Grecian Muse;
191 "And listening girls perceive a charm unknown
192 "In grave advice, as utter'd by CHAPONE;49
193 "If SEWARD50 sting with rapture every vein,
194 "Or gay PIOZZI51 sport in lighter strain;
195 "If BURNEY52 mix with sparkling humour chaste
196 "Delicious feelings and the purest taste,
197 "Or RADCLIFFE53 wrap in necromantic gloom
198 "The impervious forest and the mystic dome;
199 "If BEAUCLERK54 paint Lenora's spectre-horse,
200 "The uplifted lance of death, the grisly corse;
201 "And e'en a Princess lend poetic grace55
202 "The pencil's charm, and breathe in every trace."
203 She ceas'd;56 and round their MORE57 the sisters sigh'd!
204 Soft on each tongue repentant murmurs58 died;
205 And sweetly scatter'd (as they glanc'd away)
206 Their conscious "blushes spoke a brighter day."