Watch not their steps--they're safe without thy care,
Unless, like jennets, they conceive by air,
And every one of them may die a nun, 550
Unless they breed, like carrion, in the sun.
Men, dead to pleasure, as they're dead to grace,
Against the law of Nature set their face,
The grand primeval law, and seem combined
To stop the propagation of mankind;
Vile pathics read the Marriage Act with pride,
And fancy that the law is on their side.
Broke down, and strength a stranger to his bed,
Old L----[304], though yet alive, is dead;
T---- lives no more, or lives not to our isle;
No longer bless'd with a Cz----'s[305] smile; 560
T---- is at P----[306] disgraced,
And M---- grown gray, perforce grows chaste;
Nor to the credit of our modest race,
Rises one stallion to supply their place.
A maidenhead, which, twenty years ago,
In mid December the rank fly would blow,
Though closely kept, now, when the Dog-star's heat
Inflames the marrow, in the very street
May lie untouch'd, left for the worms, by those
Who daintily pass by, and hold their nose; 570
Poor, plain Concupiscence is in disgrace,
And simple Lechery dares not show her face,
Lest she be sent to bridewell; bankrupts made,
To save their fortunes, bawds leave off their trade,
Which first had left off them; to Wellclose Square
Fine, fresh, young strumpets (for Dodd[307] preaches there)
Throng for subsistence; pimps no longer thrive,
And pensions only keep L---- alive.
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