Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
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ID |
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A67452
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Letters and poems, amorous and gallant
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Walsh, William, 1663-1708.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing W647; ESTC R8169
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35,279
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138
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angry at People let them endeavour never so much to please 'em so we who are naturally amorous cannot avoid being in love with a Lady let her take never so much pains to anger us And indeed Madam did People ground their Passions upon Reason you have given me one of the most reasonable Causes to love you in the World For as there is no Man of Wit but knows himself to be a Fool so he ought to have an Opinion of their Iudgments who find it out as well as himself It is reported as an Instance of the Bravery of the Amazons That they wou'd never marry a Man 'till they had fought with him first and if he beat 'em very much he might expect to be loved very much by them Now I Madam who profess as great a Veneration for Wit as the Amazons had for Courage cannot have so good a Reason for Love as your having exercis'd your Wit upon me Tho' it is possible you may attribute my Passion to another Cause and as you think I love nothing beside my self may have some kindness for you because you are never like to be my Rival however assure your self Madam it is no such thing but knowing the worst you can say of me to be true and having a natural Affection for Truth Wit and Women you will think a Man a very general Lover that can love Truth Wit and Women at the same time I must needs be infinitely in love with you in whom I find 'em altogether Be not however deluded into a better Opinion of me by what any body can say for as it is only your hating me that makes me love you as soon as that ceases I am afraid my Love will do so too As you therefore value my Kindness take heed of having any for me and satisfie your self That as long as you continue to think me a silly idle conceited Fop I shall continue to be with all the Passion imaginable Madam Your c. LETTER IX To a Masqu'd Lady THo' I doubt not Madam but you have made the most considerable Conquests under the Sun yet give me leave to say You never made any so extraordinary as this before You have subdu'd without the Conqueror's common Vanity of making your self known and have gain'd the most absolute Victory in the World without as much as sheaâ—hing your Face I who never knew a Woman cou'd overcome me am now overcome by I know not who And can both boast of the greatest Passion and greatest Faith in Nature together The seeing you which is the reason of other People's Love might for ought I know destroy mine for I have rais'd Idea's of you to which it is very difficult for any thing in Nature to arrive I imagine you the most charming Creature in the Universe and at the same time fansie you to be somewhat more than I imagine I have dress'd you up in all the most different shapes of Natute In whatever you appear it has been always the most amiable And after having supposed you Maid Wife and Widow by turns I ' find I can love you infinitely be you any one of them Did I know in which state you were I wou'd certainly make love to all of it 'till I arriv'd at you and for want of that I am forc'd to confine my self to Womankind I leave it to your own Conscience Madam whether you can leave the most constant Lover in Nature in this Condition tho' if it feel no remorse for the last Disappointment I shall very hardly ever trust it more Yet however extravagant my Passion is do not apprehend that I shou'd make any malicious Reflections on you to the World let my other Vertues be what they will my Fidelity is unquestionable And assure your self there is no Man breathing less apt to tell a Secret that he does not know than Madam Your c. LETTER X. To a Friend SIR FOr Friend I can hardly call you since under that disguise you have done me one of the greatest injuries in the World and it is vain for me to guard my Territories against the malicious Designs of Enemies and Rivals when you whom I never took for either have more prejudiced me in an Amour than they cou'd with all their Forces together But that I may not condemn you without a Cause nor conclude you guilty 'till I hear what you can say in your own Iustification I will give you a plain account of the Business Meeting one of the Ladies last Night with whom I am in love she began a discourse of Lovers wherein she shew'd the many inconveniencies that attended the having a Man of Wit in that Capacity I who do not naturally love to dispute with a fair Lady especially in a Cause where I thought my self no more concern'd than if she had talk'd of Iews or Mahometans agreed with her in all she said when she turn'd briskly upon me and told me For that Reason a Woman must have a care of having any thing to do with me I told her that was acting after the manner of some late Iudges call a thing Treason without Law and then hang a Man for it without Proof That I appeal'd to all the World for my Innocence in the matter and defied my greatest Enemies to bring any Evidence of my guilt She told me she had it from such a one who had it from another and that in fine the original Author of this Calumny was your self Now tho' I grant you that some People might have said such a thing as this out of Inadvertency yet I can hardly believe a Man of your Prudence to have done it upon that account You who very well know That to commend a Man for a Wit to the Women is like commending him for a good Protestant to the Fathers of the Inquisition and he that reported me an Eunuch among 'em cou'd not do it upon a more malicious account They love a tame easie governable Fool and fansie all Wits ill-natur'd and proud Have not you often told me so and after that to put me upon 'em for one Well Sir I am a Gentleman nor shall I pass by such a thing as this without satisfaction I expect therefore you shou'd either give it me under your Hand That you never said any such thing of me or if you really said it That you shou'd go immediately to the Person to whom you did it and assure 'em you were misinform'd in the thing and that to your knowledge Ireland it self never bred a more tame easie fool than I am for here lies the greatest danger I have gotten a Rival of that Country and you know how difficult it is to succeed in a Contest with one of them when want of Wit to give is the preference After all methinks if you wou'd be hearty in the thing you may bring me out of these Difficulties I know you have Wit enough to convince 'em that I have none and if the worst come to
Amorous LETTER I. To two Masques THough I cannot boast much of Particularity to the Person I love yet as to the Love it self I may safely say It is one of the most particular under the Sun Others think it enough to fall in love with a Lady after having seen her I am in love with two without having ever seen either Not that I would willingly admit two Tyrants into my Heart but though one of you may perhaps be Monarch there yet neither you nor I knowing which it is the matter must rest in doubt 'till another opportunity For he who condemned Paris as too bold a Man in daring to judge of the three Goddesses Beauties when he saw 'em naked would have thought me a bold one indeed if I shou'd pretend to make a Iudgment between two Ladies in Masques Consider a little under what difficulties you make me labour If I shou'd commend the Colour of your Hair and it was all the while deep red the smoothness and delicacy of your Skins when they were rough and tawney the fineness of your Shapes while you were stuck up within Iron Bodice the brightness of your Eyes and they shou'd prove blear'd and squinting Do but imagine when I had done this what sort of an Effect it wou'd have upon you Whatever Inconveniences of this nature happen it is your own Faults for my part I leave this encountring with Helmets over their Faces to Sir Amadis and his Knights Errant the way of Duelling is alter'd People do not only encounter barefac'd but strip when they go to it As for this way I can assure you I find it not in the least fair and had rather be in love with the most hard-hearted Beauty living than continue in this uncertain state and neither know what I love why I love nor whether I love or no. Take pity Ladies upon a Lover in distress clear the Business to me and let me know if I am in good earnest when I profess my self Your most passionate Admirer LETTER II. To one of the former IT is by Faith alone that I fansie you the most charming but I find by Experience you are one of the most unreasonable Ladies under the Sun I concluded I had done the boldest Action in the World to declare a Passion to two Masques but you Madam set up a Title of your own and are not satisfied without Particularity and Constancy Your Charms I confess Madam as far as I saw of them are very great The Masque was very good Genoa Velvet the Gloves very good Blois Gloves and the Hackney Coach for ought I know lin'd with very good green Plush Now Madam though so far I do stedfastly believe yet to fall constantly and particularly in love with Masques Gloves or Hackney-Coaches is what I do not find a Precedent for in any of the French Romances and being naturally diffident of my self I shou'd be loth to begin a new sort of Gallantry without knowing how it wou'd take Consider Madam a little better upon the reasonableness of your Request for Particularity and Constancy are very hardly to be answer'd for at our Years It is I doubt not Madam in your power to blow my Love up to that heighth whenever you please and to confess a truth to you I have a very great Stock of Particularity and Constancy lying upon my Hands at this time and know not how to apply it I have all the reason in the World to imagine it is kept for you but however Madam it wou'd be necessary to have one view of you before I can be positive in that point I am satisfied in my Conscience that I have done all my Duty in the thing let it lie at your Door if the Humour break off for my part I cannot imagine how you will be able to answer it to all the World if you shou'd for want of discovering your self lose the most constant and most faithful Lover under the Sun LETTER III. To the same Constancy and Fidelity are without doubt great Vertues though not always great Charms in a Mistress but as to your Invisibility it is a Quality that does not please me at all I grant you Madam it is a pretty aëreal sort of Beauty and may do very well for spiritual Lovers but for me Madam who am a little embarass'd with matter and who generally carry a Body of six foot long about with me it wou'd be convenient to have some more corporeal Accomplishments Descend Madam in this case to your Lover's Capacity and make use of his Senses to represent you as charming as without doubt you are to his Imagination For though I must confess Fancy has been very kind to you in this point yet it wou'd be convenient to call in the Help of the Eyes to strengthen the Evidence I expect therefore from your next Letter an appointment where I may meet you in a visible manner These are the only Terms upon which I can treat any farther with you for tho' you write the most agreeably in the World yet you must certainly own that after having been monstrously in love for a whole Week together it is very reasonable that a Man shou'd know at last with whom it is LETTER IV. To the same YEs really Madam I think you are in the right of it Hanging and Drowning are such vulgar ways of Dying that for my part I wou'd rather live a thousand Years than make use of either Then Madam they are the most inconvenient Methods in the World Drowning will spoil your Clothes and Hanging your Complexion besides several other things that might be said to dissuade you from it but that I know a word to the Wise is enough I am of Opinion you had better deferr all sort of dying 'till another Opportunity though if you are positive in it I wou'd rather recommend Mr. Boyle's Air-Pump as a newer Invention or being poisoned in Perfumes as somewhat that looks pleasant enough But to be less serious Madam make no doubt of your own Perfections and reckon that in having me you have the most reasonable Lover of an unreasonable Lover in the World I confess were I to form a Beauty to my self she shou'd be let me consider a little upon it she shou'd be I protest Madam I know not what she shou'd be monstrously in love with me that is certain for the rest I shou'd trust the Stars I think I may say without Flattery I love my self so well that I can love any body else that does so too and shou'd preferr that single Beauty of an immoderate Passion for me in a Mistress to all the other Charms in the World as Bayes does the single beating of Armies in his Hero to all the Moral Vertues put together If you can answer for this Charm Madam take no care for any other he must be unreasonable indeed who is not satisfied with that in a Lady of Sixteen LETTER V. To the fair Unbeliever ST Ierome says St. Ierome I