Byron's Poetical Works, Volume 1

DELIVERED BY THE AUTHOR PREVIOUS TO THE PERFORMANCE OF “THE WHEEL OF
FORTUNE” AT A PRIVATE THEATRE. [1]

Since the refinement of this polish’d age Has swept immoral raillery from the stage; Since taste has now expung’d licentious wit, Which stamp’d disgrace on all an author writ; Since, now, to please with purer scenes we seek, Nor dare to call the blush from Beauty’s cheek; Oh! let the modest Muse some pity claim, And meet indulgence—­though she find not fame.  Still, not for her alone, we wish respect, [i] Others appear more conscious of defect:  To-night no vet’ran Roscii you behold, In all the arts of scenic action old; No COOKE, no KEMBLE, can salute you here, No SIDDONS draw the sympathetic tear; To-night you throng to witness the début Of embryo Actors, to the Drama new:  Here, then, our almost unfledg’d wings we try; Clip not our pinions, ere the birds can fly:  Failing in this our first attempt to soar, Drooping, alas! we fall to rise no more.  Not one poor trembler, only, fear betrays, Who hopes, yet almost dreads to meet your praise; But all our Dramatis Personæ wait, In fond suspense this crisis of their fate.  No venal views our progress can retard, Your generous plaudits are our sole reward; For these, each Hero all his power displays, [ii] Each timid Heroine shrinks before your gaze:  Surely the last will some protection find? [iii] None, to the softer sex, can prove unkind:  While Youth and Beauty form the female shield, [iv] The sternest Censor to the fair must yield. [v] Yet, should our feeble efforts nought avail, Should, after all, our best endeavours fail; Still, let some mercy in your bosoms live, And, if you can’t applaud, at least forgive.

[Footnote 1.  “I enacted Penruddock, in ‘The Wheel of Fortune’, and Tristram Fickle, in the farce of ‘The Weathercock’, for three nights, in some private theatricals at Southwell, in 1806, with great applause.  The occasional prologue for our volunteer play was also of my composition.”—­’Diary; Life’, p. 38.  The prologue was written by him, between stages, on his way from Harrogate.  On getting into the carriage at Chesterfield, he said to his companion, “Now, Pigot, I’ll spin a prologue for our play;” and before they reached Mansfield he had completed his task,—­interrupting only once his rhyming reverie, to ask the proper pronunciation of the French word ‘début’; and, on being told it, exclaiming, “Aye, that will do for rhyme to ‘’new’.’”—­’Life’, p. 39.  “The Prologue was spoken by G. Wylde, Esq.”—­Note by Miss E. PIGOT.]

[Footnote i. But not for her alone.—­[4to]

[Footnote ii:  For them each Hero.—­[4to]]

[Footnote iii:  Surely these last.—­[4to]]

[Footnote iv:  Whilst Youth.—­[4to.  ’P. on V. Occasions’.]]

[Footnote v:  The sternest critic.—­[4to]]

TO ELIZA. [i]

1.

  Eliza! [1] what fools are the Mussulman sect,
    Who, to woman, deny the soul’s future existence;
  Could they see thee, Eliza! they’d own their defect,
    And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance. [ii]

2.

  Had their Prophet possess’d half an atom of sense, [iii]
    He ne’er would have woman from Paradise driven;
  Instead of his Houris, a flimsy pretence, [iv]
    With woman alone he had peopled his Heaven.

3.

  Yet, still, to increase your calamities more, [v]
    Not content with depriving your bodies of spirit,
  He allots one poor husband to share amongst four! [vi]—­
    With souls you’d dispense; but, this last, who could bear it?

4.

  His religion to please neither party is made;
    On husbands ’tis hard, to the wives most uncivil;
  Still I can’t contradict, [vii] what so oft has been said,
    “Though women are angels, yet wedlock’s the devil.”

5.

  This terrible truth, even Scripture has told, [2]
    Ye Benedicks! hear me, and listen with rapture;
  If a glimpse of redemption you wish to behold,
    Of ST. MATT.—­read the second and twentieth chapter.

6.

  ’Tis surely enough upon earth to be vex’d,
    With wives who eternal confusion are spreading;
  “But in Heaven” (so runs the Evangelists’ Text)
    “We neither have giving in marriage, or wedding.”

7.

  From this we suppose, (as indeed well we may,)
    That should Saints after death, with their spouses put up more,
  And wives, as in life, aim at absolute sway,
    All Heaven would ring with the conjugal uproar.

8.

  Distraction and Discord would follow in course,
    Nor MATTHEW, nor MARK, nor ST. PAUL, can deny it,
  The only expedient is general divorce,
    To prevent universal disturbance and riot.

9.

  But though husband and wife, shall at length be disjoin’d,
    Yet woman and man ne’er were meant to dissever,
  Our chains once dissolv’d, and our hearts unconfin’d,
    We’ll love without bonds, but we’ll love you for ever.

10.

  Though souls are denied you by fools and by rakes,
    Should you own it yourselves, I would even then doubt you,
  Your nature so much of celestial partakes,
    The Garden of Eden would wither without you.

Southwell, October 9, 1806.

[Footnote 1:  The letters “E.  B. P.” are added, in a lady’s hand, in the annotated copy of P. on V. Occasions, p. 26 (British Museum).  The initials stand for Miss Elizabeth Pigot.]

[Footnote 2:  Stanzas 5-10, which appear in the Quarto, were never reprinted.]

[Footnote i: 

  To Miss E. P. [4to]
  To Miss—–. [P. on V. Occasions.]]

[Footnote ii: 

  Did they know but yourself they would bend with respect,
  And this doctrine must meet—–.

[MS. Newstead.]]

[Footnote iii:  But an atom of sense.

[Footnote iv:  But instead of his Houris.

[Footnote v:  But still to increase.

[Footnote vi:  He allots but one husband.

[Footnote vii:  But I can’t—–.