A CHARM FOR ENNUI.
A MATRIMONIAL BALLAD.
Ye couples, who meet under Love’s smiling star,
Too gentle to skirmish, too soft e’er to jar;
Though cover’d with roses from Joy’s richest tree,
Near the couch of Delight lurks the dæmon Ennui.
Let the Muses gay lyre, like Ithuriel’s bright spear,
Keep this fiend, ye sweet brides, from approaching your ear;
Since you know the squat toad’s infernal esprit,
Never listen, like Eve, to the devil Ennui.
Let no gloom of your hall, no shade of your bower,
Make you think you behold this malevolent power:
Like a child in the dark, what you fear you will see;
Take courage, away flies the phantom Ennui.
O trust me, the powers both of person and mind,
To defeat this sly foe full sufficient you’ll find;
Should your eyes fail to kill him, with keen repartee,
You can sink the flat boat of th’invader Ennui.
If a cool non-chalance o’er your sposa should spread,
(For vapours will rise e’en on Jupiter’s head,)
O ever believe it, from jealousy free,
A thin passing cloud, not the fog of Ennui.
Of tender complainings tho’ Love be the theme,
O beware, my sweet friends, ’tis a dangerous scheme;
And tho’ often ’tis tried, mark the pauvre mari
Thus by kindness inclos’d in the coop of Ennui.
Let Confidence, rising such meanness above,
Drown the discord of doubt in the music of Love;
Your duette shall thus charm in the natural key,
No sharps from vexation, no flats from Ennui.
But to you, happy husbands, in matters more nice,
The Muse, though a maiden, now offers advice;
O drink not too keenly your bumper of glee,
E’en extasy’s cup has some dregs of Ennui.
Tho’ Love for your lips fill with nectar his bowl,
Tho’ his warm bath of blessings inspirit your soul;
O swim not too far on Rapture’s high sea,
Lest you sink unawares in the gulph of Ennui.
Impatient of law, Passion oft will reply—
Against limitations I’ll plead till I die!
But chief-justice Nature rejects the vain plea,
And such culprits are doom’d to the gaol of Ennui.
When husband and wife are of honey too fond,
They’re like poison’d carp at the top of a pond;
Together they gape o’er a cold dish of tea,
Two muddy-sick fish in the net of Ennui.
Of indolence most, ye mild couples, beware,
For the myrtles of Love often hide her soft snare;
The fond doves in their net, from his pounce cannot flee,
But the lark in the morn ’scapes the dæmon Ennui.
Let cheerful good-humour, that sunshine of life,
Which smiles in the maiden, illumine the wife;
And mutual attention, in equal degree,
Keep Hymen’s bright chain from the rust of Ennui.
To the graces together, O fail not to bend,
And both to the voice of the Muses attend;
So Minerva, for you shall with Cupid agree,
And preserve your chaste flame from the smoke of Ennui.