Charms Of Precedence - A Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 21 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

A Simple Gift Of Clarity
by Michael Mcguire
Ring Of Fire
by N. Khanyile
A Disturbing Dream
by Marlon Pitter
Crab Lice
by Marlon Pitter
Biography Of The Anonymous
by Gilbert Sordebabari
Lost In Search Of A Saved Child
by Michael Mcguire
Dark Lens
by Gilbert Sordebabari
The Ship
by Pieter Sanders
Rose Bush
by Aubrie J Chellman
Between Condemning Bad Acts And Doing Bad Things, Which One Is Worse?
by Marlon Pitter

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2415 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)

William Shenstone

Charms Of Precedence - A Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

About Charms Of Precedence - A Tale

Write your comment about Charms Of Precedence - A Tale poem by William Shenstone

Recent Interactions*

New Poems

Popular Poets

'Sir will you please to walk before '	A
'No pray Sir you are next the door '	A
'Upon mine honour I'll not stir '	A
'Sir I'm at home consider Sir'	B
'Excuse me Sir I'll not go first '	A
'Well if I must be rude I must	C
But yet I wish I could evade it	D
'Tis strangely clownish be persuaded '	A
Go forward Cits go forward Squires	E
Nor scruple each what each admires	F
Life squares not Friends with your proceeding	G
It flies while you display your breeding	G
Such breeding as one's grannum preaches	H
Or some old dancing master teaches	I
Oh for some rude tumultuous fellow	J
Half crazy or at least half mellow	J
To come behind you unawares	K
And fairly push you both down stairs	K
But Death's at hand let me advise ye	L
Go forward Friends or he'll surprise ye	L
Besides how insincere you are	B
Do ye not flatter lie forswear	B
And daily cheat and weekly pray	B
And all for this to lead the way	B
Such is my theme which means to prove	M
That though we drink or game or love	N
As that or this is most in fashion	O
Precedence is our ruling passion	O
When college students take degrees	P
And pay the beadle's endless fees	P
What moves that scientific body	L
But the first cutting at a gaudy	L
And whence such shoals in bare conditions	Q
That starve and languish as physicians	Q
Content to trudge the streets and stare at	R
The fat apothecary's chariot	S
But that in Charlotte's chamber see	L
Moli re's M decin malgr lui	T
The leech howe'er his fortunes vary	L
Still walks before the apothecary	L
Flavia in vain has wit and charms	U
And all that shines and all that warms	V
In vain all human race adore her	B
For Lady Mary ranks before her	B
O Celia gentle Celia tell us	W
You who are neither vain nor jealous	W
The softest breast the mildest mien	X
Would you not feel some little spleen	X
Nor bite your lip nor furl your brow	B
If Florimel your equal now	B
Should one day gain precedence of ye	L
First served though in a dish of coffee	L
Placed first although where you are found	Y
You gain the eyes of all around	Y
Named first though not with half the fame	Z
That waits my charming Celia's name	Z
Hard fortune barely to inspire	B
Our fix'd esteem and fond desire	B
Barely where'er you go to prove	M
The source of universal love	N
Yet be content observing this	A2
Honour's the offspring of caprice	B2
And worth howe'er you have pursued it	D
Has now no power but to exclude it	D
You'll find your general reputation	O
A kind of supplemental station	O
Poor Swift with all his worth could ne'er	B
He tells us hope to rise a peer	B
So to supply it wrote for fame	Z
And well the wit secured his aim	Z
A common patriot has a drift	C2
Not quite so innocent as Swift	C2
In Britain's cause he rants he labours	B2
'He's honest faith ' have patience Neighbours	B2
For patriots may sometimes deceive	D2
May beg their friends' reluctant leave	D2
To serve them in a higher sphere	B
And drop their virtue to get there	B
As Lucian tells us in his fashion	O
How souls put off each earthly passion	O
Ere on Elysium's flowery strand	E2
Old Charon suffer'd them to land	E2
So ere we meet a court's caresses	B2
No doubt our souls must change their dresses	B2
And souls there be who bound that way	B
Attire themselves ten times a day	B
If then 'tis rank which all men covet	S
And saints alike and sinners love it	D
If place for which our courtiers throng	F2
So thick that few can get along	F2
For which such servile toils are seen	X
Who's happier than a king a queen	X
Howe'er men aim at elevation	O
'Tis properly a female passion	O
Women and beaus beyond all measure	B
Are charm'd with rank's ecstatic pleasure	B
Sir if your drift I rightly scan	G2
You'd hint a beau was not a man	G2
Say women then are fond of places	B2
I waive all disputable cases	B2
A man perhaps would something linger	B
Were his loved rank to cost a finger	B
Or were an ear or toe the price on 't	D
He might deliberate once or twice on 't	D
Perhaps ask Gataker's advice on 't	D
And many as their frames grow old	D
Would hardly purchase it with gold	D
But women wish precedence ever	B
'Tis their whole life's supreme endeavour	B
It fires their youth with jealous rage	H2
And strongly animates their age	H2
Perhaps they would not sell outright	D
Or maim a limb that was in sight	D
Yet on worse terms they sometimes choose it	D
Nor even in punishment refuse it	D
Pre eminence in pain you cry	B
All fierce and pregnant with reply	B
But lend your patience and your ear	B
An argument shall make it clear	B
But hold an argument may fail	I2
Beside my title says A Tale	I2
Where Avon rolls her winding stream	J2
Avon the Muses' favourite theme	J2
Avon that fills the farmers' purses	B2
And decks with flowers both farms and verses	B2
She visits many a fertile vale	I2
Such was the scene of this my Tale	I2
For 'tis in Evesham's Yale or near it	D
That folks with laughter tell and hear it	D
The soil with annual plenty bless'd	D
Was by young Corydon possess'd	D
His youth alone I lay before ye	L
As most material to my story	L
For strength and vigour too he had them	K2
And 'twere not much amiss to add them	K2
Thrice happy lout whose wide domain	L2
Now green with grass now gilt with grain	L2
In russet robes of clover deep	M2
Or thinly veil'd and white with sheep	M2
Now fragrant with the bean's perfume	N2
Now purpled with the pulse's bloom	N2
Might well with bright allusion store me	L
But happier bards have been before me	L
Amongst the various year's increase	B2
The stripling own'd a field of pease	B2
Which when at night he ceased his labours	B2
Were haunted by some female neighbours	B2
Each morn discover'd to his sight	D
The shameful havoc of the night	D
Traces of this they left behind them	K2
But no instructions where to find them	K2
The devil's works are plain and evil	O2
But few or none have seen the devil	O2
Old Noll indeed if we may credit	D
The words of Echard who has said it	D
Contrived with Satan how to fool us	B2
And bargain'd face to face to rule us	B2
But then Old Noll was one in ten	P2
And sought him more than other men	P2
Our shepherd too with like attention	O
May meet the female fiends we mention	O
He rose one morn at break of day	D
And near the field in ambush lay	D
When lo a brace of girls appears	B2
The third a matron much in years	B2
Smiling amidst the pease the sinners	B2
Sat down to cull their future dinners	B2
And caring little who might own them	K2
Made free as though themselves had sown them	K2
'Tis worth a sage's observation	O
How love can make a jest of passion	O
Anger had forced the swain from bed	D
His early dues to love unpaid	D
And Love a god that keeps a pother	L
And will be paid one time or other	L
Now banish'd Anger out of door	L
And claim'd the debt withheld before	L
If Anger bid our youth revile	Q2
Love form'd his features to a smile	Q2
And knowing well 'twas all grimace	B2
To threaten with a smiling face	B2
He in few words express'd his mind	D
And none would deem them much unkind	D
The amorous youth for their offence	B2
Demanded instant recompence	B2
That recompence from each which shame	Z
Forbids a bashful Muse to name	Z
Yet more this sentence to discover	L
'Tis what Bet grants her lover	L
When he to make the strumpet willing	G
Has spent his fortune to a shilling	G
Each stood awhile as 'twere suspended	D
And loth to do what each intended	D
At length with soft pathetic sighs	B2
The matron bent with age replies	B2
''Tis vain to strive justice I know	J
And our ill stars will have it so	J
But let my tears your wrath assuage	H2
And show some deference for age	H2
I from a distant village came	Z
Am old God knows and something lame	Z
And if we yield as yield we must	D
Despatch my crazy body first '	A
Our shepherd like the Phrygian swain	L2
When circled round on Ida's plain	L2
With goddesses he stood suspended	D
And Pallas's grave speech was ended	D
Own'd what she ask'd might be his duty	L
But paid the compliment to beauty	L