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The Naughty Man; or, Sir Thomas Brown / Love, Courtship and Marriage in High Life. A Poetical Satire cover

The Naughty Man; or, Sir Thomas Brown / Love, Courtship and Marriage in High Life. A Poetical Satire

Chapter 8: VI.
By Frank Chapman Bliss
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The poem satirically follows an elderly millionaire who courts and secretly marries a lively young widow, portraying their quiet domestic life and the scandalized reactions of family, the press, and society. Arranged in numbered lyrical sections, it mixes comic moralizing, social observation, and pointed lampoons of hypocrisy, vanity, and fashionable affectation. The narrator criticizes gossip and public pretensions while reflecting on human delusion, love, and the performative nature of rank and reputation, using rhythmic verse and anecdote to expose foibles in courtship, marriage, and high social life.

VI.

But who was Ruth? methinks I hear you say.
I’ll answer in mine own peculiar way:
Her eyes were sparkling—as brilliant and bright
As glittering stars in a clear frosty night,
Her head was bedecked with beautiful hair,
Her teeth well preserved—her complexion fair,
With a smiling face—lips red as a cherry,
She would laugh, sing, and chat, ever make merry;
A leader of fashions, lively and gay,
She turned day into night—night into day;
Most fully developed, with full rounded arms,
No wonder frail men were struck with her charms;
In London, Paris, on Italia’s soil,
She played all her games according to Hoyle,
She homage received from men of all ranks,
Returned them no love—but simply her thanks.
A pure, spotless virgin, true! she was not,
But a superb widow! without a spot
Or blemish to mar; a Venus in form;
No wonder she took her lovers by storm.