Behold this little Bane－1
The Boon of all alive－
As common as it is unknown
The name of it is Love－
To lack of it is Woe－5
To own of it is Wound－
Not elsewhere－if in Paradise
Its Tantamount be found－
The Boon of all alive－
As common as it is unknown
The name of it is Love－
To lack of it is Woe－5
To own of it is Wound－
Not elsewhere－if in Paradise
Its Tantamount be found－
(F.1464/J.1438)
[1] Bane:: a cause of harm (an illegitimate child).
[2] Boon:: a benefit bestowed in response to a request.
[3] unknown:: without marriage, a child is born usually silently.
[4] Love:: love child, an illegitimate child.
[7, 8] if in Paradise, Tantamount:: only in heaven can find the same child, a hint that child is died.
Now, this is a love child, which cannot produce that rational happiness which a woman of sense ought to expect. ─ The Works of Henry Fielding (1783)
Margery Stewart, a love child of Major W. Stewart, of the Dragoons, by a low creature, whilst in quarters at Ballyshannon, in the North of Ireland. ─ The Hibernian Magazine (1775)