In Church the Prayer-Book, and the Fan display'd
Title:
To Belinda Primary Text:
No MS; 1714 Steele, 43*
In Church the Prayer-Book, and the Fan display'd,
And solemn Curt'sies, shew the wily Maid;
At Plays the leering Looks and wanton Airs,
And Nods and Smiles, are fondly meant for Snares.
Alas! vain Charmer, you no Lovers get;
There you seem Hypocrite, and here Coquet.
. Comment:
Another poem probably byFinch from series in 1714 Steele. Myra Reynolds thought was Finch's; this poem too seems certainly Finch's; there is the blunt prosody (very like her other epigrams), the distaste for mindless coquets (e.g., "Ardelia's Answer," "Melinda on an Insippid Beauty"); the cutting harshness recalls "Adam Pos'd." I wonder if she would thought these poems could be interpreted as the product of spleen, and thus been unwilling to put her name to them.
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