Happy Valentines Day!

This poem was written by Alexander Pope, a famous 18th century poet. Some of the people I study ran in the same circles as Pope, tho he was a bit older than most of my people. I love his depiction of the country squire's manners towards a lady! The poem is copied from Mark Girouard's Country House Companion.

To A Young Lady, On Her Leaving The Town After the Coronation (1714)

She went to plain work, and to purling brooks,
Old fashion'd halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks:
She went from opera, park, assembly, play,
To morning walks, and prayers three times a day;
To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea,
To muse, and spill her solitary tea,
Or o'er cold coffee trifle with a spoon,
Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon;
Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,
Hum half a tune, tell stories to the squire;
Up to her godly garret after seven,
There starve and pray, for that's the way to heaven.
Some squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack,
Whose game is whisk, whose treat a toast in sack;
Who visits with a gun, presents you birds,
Then gives a smacking buss, no words;
Or with his hounds comes hallooing from the stable,
Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table;
Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are coarse,
And loves you best of all things --but his horse.

Notes: "Buss" means "kiss." Eating dinner at noon was unfashionable. "Bohea" refers to black tea from China.