Strephon whose person ev'ry grace
Title:
A Song [MS F-H 283 & Folger]; The Wit and the Beau [1713 Misc] Primary Texts:
MS's: F-H 283, 141; Folger, 37. Secondary Eds:
1713 Misc, 131-2 (as a fable); rpt of 1713: 1903 Reynolds, 158-9 (among the fables). 18C:
1703 Poems on Several Occasions; 1724 The Hive II, 120 (entitled: "The Wit and the Beau"). Comment:
It's interesting to see the poem gradually be turned into a fable. This is to take a sheer perception of a moment, and a slightly acid one too, and turn it into a moralized text. The text shows a line of development from F-H 283 and Folger (the texts are exactly the same) to 1713 Misc, where song now is called a fable and line 13 reads: "with Bows, and Smiles" instead of "With looks and smiles"; 1724 Hive reprints 1713 Misc, but back again to be read as one of many songs.
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