Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 208 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 208: what you’re looking at
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# Page 190: Poetry on Pleasure This is a text page from running prose—specifically a poem titled "PLEASURE" (page number 190 visible at top). The verse is a moral warning in dramatic, Victorian language, addressing "Pleasure" as a seductive force that lures the speaker through flattery and false joys, dulling reason and conscience. The poem warns young and innocent readers to avoid Pleasure's snare, cautioning that those enchanted by her "magic charms" ultimately seek "bliss in Dissipation's arms." The tone is melodramatic and moralizing, typical of Victorian penny dreadful content blending sensation with didactic warnings against vice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
190 PLEASURE. | ; As, syren Pleasure! when thy flattering strains Lured me to seek thee through thy flowery plains, — Taught from thy sparkling cup full joys to sip, And suck sweet poison from thy velvet lip, Didst thou in opiate charms my virtue steep, Was Reason silent, and did Conscience sleep? How could I else enjoy thy faithless dreams, as And fancy day-light in thy meteor gleams ; Think all was happiness, that smiled like joy, And with dear purchase seize each glittering toy? Till roused at length, deep rankling in my heart, © T felt the latent anguish of thy dart! Oh, let the young and innocent beware, Nor think uninjured to approach thy snare! Their surest conquest is, the foe to shun ; By fight infected, and by truce undone. Secure, at distance let her shores be past, Whose sight can poison, and whose breath can blast. Contentment blooms not on her glowing ground, And round her splendid shrine no peace is found. Tf once enchanted by her magic charms, ‘They seek for bliss in Dissipation’s arms: CONNIE DOO KS.COmn)