Transcribed from the early 1800’s edition by DavidPrice, .
AN ADDRESS
to a
WEALTHY LIBERTINE;
or, the
Melancholy Effects
of
SEDUCTION;
with a
LETTER
FROM AN UNFORTUNATE
Farmer’s Daughter,
to her
PARENTS IN NORFOLK.
PRICE SIX-PENCE.
sold
By J. PARKERSON, Jun.
Walker, Printer, near theDuke’s Palace, Norwich.
p.3An Address, &c.
Believe me, Sir; I do theselines impart
With every pang that can corrode the heart;
Bring to your mind a dismal scene late past,
And let that guilty Amour be your last.
Think of my friend that was of late so gay,
By your vile arts dishonour’d and away;
From every joy that animates this life,
The tender mother and the happy wife.
A husband’s frowns, a father’s burning tears,
For Stella’s folly much increase their cares.
A brother mourns, in solitude forlorn,
To hear his Stella meet reproof and scorn:
In tears he cries, my sister’s late disgrace
Will plant a stigma on the female race.
Those friends so late that used to Stella stray,
Now bend their courses far another way.
She mourns in privacy her honour flown,
And sighs to find illicit scenes are known.
These sorrowing truths I feelingly renew,
And know, oh guilty man! they rise from you.
Can all your wealth lost honour ever gain?
That, Sir, is scorn’d—it is the impious stain
You’ve brought on Stella, to the end of life,
And robs her all the comforts of a wife.
Abandon’d man you must atone for all,
Ere life is o’er on God for mercy call.
p.4Your mind is harass’d by reflection’sgale,
That oft to you its bitterness exhale:
Tempted by folly every scene pursue,
That dissipation can expose to view.
The softer pleasures that enrich the mind,
That learning dictates, from you lag behind;
Its cruel sport that bears a sov’reign sway,
To them and such like them you waste the day.
Know, Sir, that wealth an’t given to us here,
To bring to infamy the British fair.
Too much, I fear, you wanton hours employ,
The needy woman daily to decoy.
Too many wantons now disgrace this