[Page 171]

On FLORELLA's Birth-Day.

1 THE Queen of Love, and PALLAS once, 'tis said,
2 Had both agreed to form a finish'd Maid:
3 Upon a noted Day they flew to Earth,
4 A Day still noted by FLORELLA's Birth:
5 Both Deities employ'd their utmost Care,
6 To make their darling Lady wise and fair:
7 This gave her Beauty, that a sprightly Wit,
8 Which render'd Soul and Body justly fit:
9 But MERCURY, that nimble-winged Thief,
10 Who loves his Joke, as dearly as his Life,
11 Down from Olympus to his Sisters flew,
12 When just to Life their little Embryo grew;
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13 And pour'd a little Folly in her Breast;
14 A little Folly leaven'd all the rest:
15 Hence 'tis, she's sometimes sprightly, sometimes dull;
16 And sometimes witty, sometimes quite a Fool;
17 Scarce foolish now, nor witty, sprightly neither;
18 But sprightly, witty, foolish, all together.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): On FLORELLA's Birth-Day.
Author: Stephen Duck
Themes: birthday
Genres: heroic couplet; occasional poem

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Source edition

Duck, Stephen, 1705-1756. Poems on several occasions: By Stephen Duck. London: printed for the author, 1736, pp. 171-172. xl,334,[2]p. ; 4⁰. (ESTC T90234; OTA K073280.000)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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