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XXXIV.

From these they will be careful to select,
For this an heiress, and for that a beauty;
For one a songstress who hath no defect,

For t'other one who promises much duty;
For this a lady no one can reject,

Whose sole accomplishments were quite a booty; A second for her excellent connections;

A third, because there can be no objections.

XXXV.

When Rapp the Harmonist embargo'd marriage (1) In his harmonious settlement-(which flourishes Strangely enough as yet without miscarriage,

Because it breeds no more mouths than it nourishes, Without those sad expenses which disparage

What Nature naturally most encourages) — Why call'd he "Harmony" a state sans wedlock? Now here I have got the preacher at a dead lock.

XXXVI.

Because he either meant to sneer at harmony
Or marriage, by divorcing them thus oddly.
But whether reverend Rapp learn'd this in Germany
Or no, 't is said his sect is rich and godly,

(1) This extraordinary and flourishing German colony in America does not entirely exclude matrimony, as the "Shakers" do; but lays such restrictions upon it as prevent more than a certain quantum of births within a certain number of years; which births (as Mr. Hulme observes) generally arrive "in a little flock like those of a farmer's lambs, all within the same month perhaps." These Harmonists (so called from the name of their settlement) are represented as a remarkably flourishing, pious, and quiet people. See the various recent writers on America.

Pious and pure, beyond what I can term any
Of ours, although they propagate more broadly.
My objection's to his title, not his ritual,

Although I wonder how it

grew habitual.

XXXVII.

But Rapp is the reverse of zealous matrons,
Who favour, malgré Malthus, generation-
Professors of that genial art, and patrons

Of all the modest part of propagation;
Which after all at such a desperate rate runs,
That half its produce tends to emigration,
That sad result of passions and potatoes—
Two weeds which pose our economic Catos.

XXXVIII.

Had Adeline read Malthus? I can't tell;

[ment,

I wish she had: his book's the eleventh commandWhich says, "Thou shalt not marry," unless well: This he (as far as I can understand) meant. Tis not my purpose on his views to dwell,

Nor canvass what "so eminent a hand" meant;(') But certes it conducts to lives ascetic, Or turning marriage into arithmetic.

(1) Jacob Tonson, according to Mr. Pope, was accustomed to call his writers "able pens," 66 persons of honour," and especially "eminent hands." Vide Correspondence, &c. &c.-[" Perhaps I should myself be much better pleased, if I were told you called me your little friend, than if you complimented me with the title of a 'great genius,' or an eminent hand,' as Jacob does all his authors." - Pope to Steele.]

XXXIX.

But Adeline, who probably presumed

That Juan had enough of maintenance, Or separate maintenance, in case 't was doom'dAs on the whole it is an even chance That bridegrooms, after they are fairly groom'd, May retrograde a little in the dance

Of marriage-(which might form a painter's fame, Like Holbein's "Dance of Death" (')—but 'tis the same);—

XL.

But Adeline determined Juan's wedding

In her own mind, and that's enough for woman: But then, with whom? There was the sage Miss [Knowman,

Reading,

Miss Raw, Miss Flaw, Miss Showman, and Miss And the two fair co-heiresses Giltbedding.

She deem'd his merits something more than All these were unobjectionable matches, [common: And might go on, if well wound up, like watches.

XLI.

There was Miss Millpond, smooth as summer's sea, That usual paragon, an only daughter,

Who seem'd the cream of equanimity,

[water,

Till skimm'd- and then there was some milk and

With a slight shade of blue too, it might be,

Beneath the surface; but what did it matter? Love's riotous, but marriage should have quiet, And being consumptive, live on a milk diet.

(1) [See D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, New Series, vol. ii. p. 308., and the Dissertation prefixed to Mr. Douce's valuable edition of Hollar's Dance of Death.]

XLII.

And then there was the Miss Audacia Shoestring, A dashing demoiselle of good estate,

Whose heart was fix'd upon a star or blue string;

But whether English dukes grew rare of late, Or that she had not harp'd upon the true string, By which such sirens can attract our great, She took up with some foreign younger brother, A Russ or Turk-the one's as good as t'other.

XLIII.

And then there was-but why should I go on,
Unless the ladies should go off?—there was
Indeed a certain fair and fairy one,

Of the best class, and better than her class,— Aurora Raby, a young star who shone

O'er life, too sweet an image for such glass,
A lovely being, scarcely form'd or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded;

XLIV.

Rich, noble, but an orphan; left an only
Child to the care of guardians good and kind;
But still her aspect had an air so lonely!

Blood is not water; and where shall we find
Feelings of youth like those which overthrown lie
By death, when we are left, alas! behind,
To feel, in friendless palaces, a home
Is wanting, and our best ties in the tomb?

XLV.

Early in years, and yet more infantine

In figure, she had something of sublime
In eyes which sadly shone, as seraphs' shine.
All youth-but with an aspect beyond time;
Radiant and grave -
-as pitying man's decline;
Mournful-but mournful of another's crime,
She look'd as if she sat by Eden's door,

And grieved for those who could return no more.

XLVI.

She was a Catholic, too, sincere, austere,
As far as her own gentle heart allow'd,
And deem'd that fallen worship far more dear
Perhaps because 't was fallen: her sires were proud
Of deeds and days when they had fill'd the ear
Of nations, and had never bent or bow'd

To novel power; and as she was the last,
She held their old faith and old feelings fast.

XLVII.

She gazed upon a world she scarcely knew
As seeking not to know it; silent, lone,
As grows a flower, thus quietly she grew,

And kept her heart serene within its zone.
There was awe in the homage which she drew;
Her spirit seem'd as seated on a throne
Apart from the surrounding world, and strong
In its own strength-most strange in one so young!

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