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January, 1795


By Mary Darby Robinson


 

Pavement slipp'ry, people sneezing,
Lords in ermine, beggars freezing ;
Titled gluttons dainties carving,
Genius in a garret starving.

Lofty mansions, warm and spacious ;
Courtiers clinging and voracious ;
Misers scarce the wretched heeding ;
Gallant soldiers fighting, bleeding.

Wives who laugh at passive spouses ;
Theatres, and meeting-houses ;
Balls, where simp'ring misses languish ;
Hospitals, and groans of anguish.

Arts and sciences bewailing ;
Commerce drooping, credit failing ;
Placemen mocking subjects loyal ;
Separations, weddings royal.

Authors who can't earn a dinner ;
Many a subtle rogue a winner ;
Fugitives for shelter seeking ;
Misers hoarding, tradesmen breaking.

Taste and talents quite deserted ;
All the laws of truth perverted ;
Arrogance o'er merit soaring ;
Merit silently deploring.

Ladies gambling night and morning ;
Fools the works of genius scorning ;
Ancient dames for girls mistaken,
Youthful damsels quite forsaken.

Some in luxury delighting ;
More in talking than in fighting ;
Lovers old, and beaux decrepid ;
Lordlings empty and insipid.

Poets, painters, and musicians ;
Lawyers, doctors, politicians :
Pamphlets, newspapers, and odes,
Seeking fame by diff'rent roads.

Gallant souls with empty purses ;
Gen'rals only fit for nurses ;
School-boys, smit with martial spirit,
Taking place of vet'ran merit.

Honest men who can't get places,
Knaves who shew unblushing faces ;
Ruin hasten'd, peace retarded ;
Candour spurn'd, and art rewarded.


 

Mary Darby Robinson (1758-1800) was born on the 27th November, 1758 in Bristol, England. She was the third of five children born to a ships Captain who eventually left when she was seven to set up a whaling station in Canada. Marys mother moved the family to London, and she set up a boarding school to support them. When she was only fifteen however, her father (now estranged), but still legally in control of the family, forced her mother to close the school; and Mary moved to a finishing school in Oxford, where she was quickly spotted as something of a talent and offered work on the stage. She married at the age of sixteen, and lived beyond her means with her new husband; with him eventually going to debtors prison. At this time her poetry began to bloom; while still actively pursueing her stage career, and she had an affair with the Prince of Wales who she later blackmailed.

All this, and she is still only twenty-one! Quite a woman. To read a fuller account of her life and times go to this site to find out what happened next.

Want to comment on this poem? Send us an e-mail and we'll publish your most interesting views on our comments page.

For more information about Mary Darby Robinson visit here for a great online collection of her memoirs.

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