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    The Lover's Watch: "One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on."
    The Lover's Watch: "One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on."
    The Lover's Watch: "One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on."
    Ebook143 pages2 hours

    The Lover's Watch: "One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on."

    By Aphra Behn

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    Aphra Behn was a prolific and well established writer but facts about her remain scant and difficult to confirm. What can safely be said though is that Aphra Behn is now regarded as a key English playwright and a major figure in Restoration theatre. Aphra was born into the rising tensions to the English Civil War. Obviously a time of much division and difficulty as the King and Parliament, and their respective forces, came ever closer to conflict. There are claims she was a spy, that she travelled abroad, possibly as far as Surinam. By 1664 her marriage was over (though by death or separation is not known but presumably the former as it occurred in the year of their marriage) and she now used Mrs Behn as her professional name. Aphra now moved towards pursuing a more sustainable and substantial career and began work for the King's Company and the Duke's Company players as a scribe. Previously her only writing had been poetry but now she would become a playwright. Her first, “The Forc’d Marriage”, was staged in 1670, followed by “The Amorous Prince” (1671). After her third play, “The Dutch Lover”, Aphra had a three year lull in her writing career. Again it is speculated that she went travelling again, possibly once again as a spy. After this sojourn her writing moves towards comic works, which prove commercially more successful. Her most popular works included “The Rover” and “Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister” (1684–87). With her growing reputation Aphra became friends with many of the most notable writers of the day. This is The Age of Dryden and his literary dominance. From the mid 1680’s Aphra’s health began to decline. This was exacerbated by her continual state of debt and descent into poverty. Aphra Behn died on April 16th 1689, and is buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on her tombstone reads: "Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality." She was quoted as stating that she had led a "life dedicated to pleasure and poetry."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateMar 12, 2016
    ISBN9781785437946
    The Lover's Watch: "One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on."
    Author

    Aphra Behn

    Born in the first few decades of the seventeenth century, Aphra Behn is one of early literature’s best-known female writers. Behn had the lucky distinction of being able to support herself strictly by her “pen,” something unheard of for women of her time. Throughout her long career, she wrote in various forms—poetry, plays, prose—and is known as a member of the ‘fair triumvirate of wit’ alongside fellow scribes Eliza Haywood and Delarivier Manley. Although little is known about her early life, Behn’s father held a post as lieutenant governor of Surinam, and Behn’s experiences during her stay most likely formed the basis for her most famous work, Oroonoko. Behn was also a popular dramatist in her time, penning critical successes like The Rover and The Feigned Courtesans. Her literary exploits aside, Behn is also known to have acted as a political spy for King Charles II of England during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Behn died in 1689, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

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      Book preview

      The Lover's Watch - Aphra Behn

      The Lover’s Watch by Aphra Behn

      Aphra Behn was a prolific and well established writer but facts about her remain scant and difficult to confirm. What can safely be said though is that Aphra Behn is now regarded as a key English playwright and a major figure in Restoration theatre

      Aphra was born into the rising tensions to the English Civil War. Obviously a time of much division and difficulty as the King and Parliament, and their respective forces, came ever closer to conflict.

      There are claims she was a spy, that she travelled abroad, possibly as far as Surinam.

      By 1664 her marriage was over (though by death or separation is not known but presumably the former as it occurred in the year of their marriage) and she now used Mrs Behn as her professional name.

      Aphra now moved towards pursuing a more sustainable and substantial career and began work for the King's Company and the Duke's Company players as a scribe.

      Previously her only writing had been poetry but now she would become a playwright. Her first, The Forc’d Marriage, was staged in 1670, followed by The Amorous Prince (1671). After her third play, The Dutch Lover, Aphra had a three year lull in her writing career. Again it is speculated that she went travelling again, possibly once again as a spy.

      After this sojourn her writing moves towards comic works, which prove commercially more successful. Her most popular works included The Rover and Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (1684–87).

      With her growing reputation Aphra became friends with many of the most notable writers of the day. This is The Age of Dryden and his literary dominance.

      From the mid 1680’s Aphra’s health began to decline.  This was exacerbated by her continual state of debt and descent into poverty.

      Aphra Behn died on April 16th 1689, and is buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on her tombstone reads: Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality. She was quoted as stating that she had led a life dedicated to pleasure and poetry.

      Index of Contents

      THE LOVER'S WATCH - INTRODUCTION.

      To Peter Weston, Esq.; Of The Honourable Society of The Inner-Temple.

      To the Admir'd ASTREA.

      To the Incomparable Author.

      To the most ingenious ASTREA, upon her Book intituled, La Môntre, or the Lover's Watch.

      To the Divine ASTREA, on her Môntre.

      To his admired Friend, the most ingenious Author.

      La Monstre. The LOVER'S WATCH: or, the ART of making LOVE.

      The ARGUMENT.

      IRIS to DAMON.

      The Confession.

      EIGHT o'CLOCK.

      Agreeable Reverie.

      The Reflections.

      The Reserve.

      NINE o'CLOCK.

      Design to please no body.

      The Question.

      The Sigh.

      TEN o'CLOCK.

      Reading of Letters.

      The Joy.

      Love's Witness.

      The Transport.

      ELEVEN o'CLOCK.

      The Hour to write in.

      Advice to Lovers.

      The Invention.

      TWELVE o'CLOCK.

      Indispensible Duty.

      The Instruction.

      ONE o'CLOCK.

      Forc'd Entertainment.

      The Coquet.

      The Enquiry.

      TWO o'CLOCK.

      Dinner-Time.

      The Permission.

      THREE o'CLOCK.

      Visits to Friends.

      Cupid.

      The Example.

      FOUR o'CLOCK.

      General Conversation.

      The Invitation.

      FIVE o'CLOCK.

      Dangerous Visits.

      The Caution.

      The Charm for Constancy.

      The Defiance.

      SIX o'CLOCK.

      Walk without Design.

      The Mal-Content.

      The Warning.

      SEVEN o'CLOCK.

      Voluntary Retreat.

      Sincerity.

      EIGHT o'CLOCK.

      Impatient Demands.

      The Assurance.

      NINE o'CLOCK.

      Melancholy Reflections.

      Love secur'd.

      TEN o'CLOCK.

      Reflections.

      Beginning Love.

      ELEVEN o'CLOCK.

      Supper.

      The Reformation.

      TWELVE o'CLOCK.

      Complaisance.

      The Regret.

      ONE o'CLOCK.

      Impossibility to Sleep.

      Love and Glory.

      TWO o'CLOCK.

      Conversation in Dreams.

      THREE o'CLOCK.

      Capricious Suffering in Dreams.

      The Request.

      FOUR o'CLOCK.

      Jealousy in Dreams.

      The Torment.

      FIVE o'CLOCK.

      Quarrels in Dreams.

      The Inconstant.

      SIX o'CLOCK.

      Accommodation in Dreams.

      Love reconcil'd.

      SEVEN o'CLOCK.

      Divers Dreams.

      Love and Ambition.

      The KING.

      The CASE for the WATCH.

      DAMON to IRIS.

      The FIGURE of the CASE.

      The Votary.

      The First CYPHER.

      The Second CYPHER,

      The Third CYPHER.

      The Fourth CYPHER.

      The CLASP of the WATCH.

      The Art of Loving well.

      The LADY'S LOOKING-GLASS, to Dress her self by: or, The Art of Charming.

      Sent from DAMON to IRIS.

      IRIS's LOOKING-GLASS.

      The SHAPE of IRIS.

      IRIS's COMPLEXION.

      IRIS's HAIR.

      IRIS's EYES.

      The MOUTH of IRIS.

      The NECK of IRIS.

      The ARMS and HANDS of IRIS.

      The GRACE and AIR of IRIS.

      The DISCRETION of IRIS.

      The GOODNESS and COMPLAISANCE of IRIS.

      The WIT of IRIS.

      The MODESTY of IRIS.

      The Effects of Absence from what we love.

      APHRA BEHN – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

      APHRA BEHN – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

      THE LOVER'S WATCH.

      INTRODUCTION.

      La Môntre: or, The Lover's Watch, 'Licensed 2 Aug. 1686. R.L.S.' is taken by Mrs. Behn from La Môntre of Balthazar de Bonnecorse. After having received an excellent education at Marseilles, where he was born, de Bonnecorse was appointed consul at Cairo, and later transferred to Sidon in the Levant. Whilst at Cairo he composed La Môntre, a mixture of prose and verse, which he sent to the great arbiter of Parisian taste, Georges de Scudéri, under whose care it was printed in 1666 at Paris. It was followed in 1671 by the second part, la Boëte et le Miroir, dedicated to the Duke de Vivonne. Upon his return to France, de Bonnecorse abridged La Môntre and put it wholly into verse, in which form it appears in his collected (yet incomplete) works, 'Chez Theodore Haak.' Leyden, 1720. Bonnecorse died at Marseilles in 1706. He is always piquant and graceful in his madrigals and songs, though both sentiment and verse have faded a little with the passing of time. Boileau immortalized him in Le Lutrin: la Môntre is one of the missiles the enraged canons hurl at each other's reverend pates: 'L'un prend l'Edit d'amour, l'autre en saisit la Môntre.' Bonnecorse's attempted parody on Le Lutrin, le Lutrigot (Marseille, 1686), is of no value, and brought a caustic epigram down on his head.

      To Peter Weston, Esq.; Of The Honourable Society of The Inner-Temple.

      Sir,

      When I had ended this little unlaboured Piece, the Watch, I resolv'd to dedicate it to some One, whom I cou'd fancy, the nearest approacht the charming Damon. Many fine Gentlemen I had in view, of Wit and Beauty; but still, through their Education, or a natural Propensity to Debauchery, I found those Vertues wanting, that should compleat that delicate Character, Iris gives her Lover; and which, at first Thought of You, I found center'd there to Perfection.

      Yes, Sir, I found You had all the Youth of Damon; without the forward noisy Confidence, which usually attends your Sex. You have all the attracting Beauty of my young Hero; all that can charm the Fair; without the Affectation of those, that set out for Conquests (though You make a Thousand, without knowing it, or the Vanity of believing it.) You have our Damon's Wit with all his agreeable Modesty: Two Vertues that rarely shine together: And the last makes You conceal the noble Sallies of the first, with that Industry and Care, You wou'd an Amour: And You wou'd no more boast of either of these, than of your undoubted Bravery.

      You are (like our Lover too) so discreet, that the bashful Maid may, without Fear or Blushing, venture the soft Confession of the Soul with You; reposing the dear Secret in Yours, with more Safety than with her own Thoughts. You have all the Sweetness of Youth, with the Sobriety and Prudence of Age. You have all the Power of the gay Vices of Man; but the Angel in your Mind, has subdu'd you to the Vertues of a God! And all the vicious and industrious Examples of the roving Wits of the mad Town, have only served to give You the greater Abhorrence to Lewdness. And You look down with Contempt and Pity on that wretched unthinking Number, who pride themselves in their mean Victories over little Hearts; and boast their common Prizes with that Vanity, that declares 'em capable of no higher Joy, than that of the Ruin of some credulous Unfortunate: And no Glory like that, of the Discovery of the brave Achievement, over the next Bottle, to the Fool that shall applaud 'em.

      How does the Generosity, and Sweetness of your Disposition despise these false Entertainments, that turns the noble Passion of Love into Ridicule, and Man into Brute.

      Methinks I cou'd form another Watch (that should remain a Pattern to succeeding Ages) how divinely you pass your more sacred Hours, how nobly and usefully You divide your Time: in which, no precious minute is lost, not one glides idly by; but all turns to wondrous Account. And all Your Life is one continu'd Course of Vertue and Honour. Happy the Parents that have the Glory to own You! Happy the Man, that has the Honour of your Friendship! But, oh! How much more happy the fair She, for whom you shall sigh! Which surely, can never be in vain.

      There will be such a Purity in Your Flame: All You ask will be so chaste and noble, and utter'd with a Voice so modest, and a Look so charming, as must, by a gentle Force, compel that Heart to yield, that knows the true Value of Wit, Beauty, and Vertue.

      Since then, in all the Excellencies of Mind and Body (where no one Grace is wanting) you so resemble the All-perfect Damon, suffer me to dedicate this Watch to You. It brings You nothing but Rules for Love; delicate as Your Thoughts, and innocent as Your Conversation. And possibly, 'tis the only Vertue of the Mind, You are not perfectly Master of; the only noble Mystery of the Soul, You have not yet studied. And though they are Rules for every Hour, You will find, they will neither rob Heaven, nor Your Friends of ther Due; those so valuable Devoirs of Your Life; They will teach You Love; but Love, so pure, and so devout, that You may mix it, even with Your Religion; and I know, Your fine Mind can admit of no other. When ever the God enters there (fond and wanton as he is, full of Arts and Guiles) he will be reduc'd to that Native Innocency, that made him so ador'd, before inconstant Man corrupted his Divinity, and made him wild and wandring. How happy will Iris's Watch be, to inspire such a Heart! How honour'd

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