[Page 122]

To the Honourable Mrs. Percival.

1 And will your Goodness never have an End?
2 And will you still persist to be my Friend?
3 To meet me still with that engaging Air,
4 Still open, ardent, gen'rous, and sincere;
5 Still to advise, to aid, to cheer, to bless;
6 Still to prevent, or to dispel, Distress;
7 Sollicit for me with unweary'd Zeal,
8 Pleas'd to succeed, nor slacken'd when you fail;
9 Point out each Path to good Success from far;
10 And guide me by thy Light, my happier Star!
11 When of ungen'rous Minds I Favours ask,
12 And sink, oppress'd beneath the grievous Task;
13 Hear the false Promise, or the feign'd Excuse,
14 In Words that mean but more refin'd Abuse;
[Page 123]
15 Full in my View thy nobler Soul appears,
16 And swells my Heart, and fills my Eyes with Tears;
17 Whilst, to prevent my Wish, your Goodness flies,
18 Nor one kind Look deceives me, from your Eyes.
19 Then let good Heav'n withhold, or grant Success,
20 Add to a Weight of Cares, or make it less;
21 By you protected, I no more repine:
22 How few can boast an Happiness like mine!
23 A Bliss so great can Wealth, or Pow'r, impart,
24 As one fix'd Friend, with such a Head, and Heart?

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): To the Honourable Mrs. Percival.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: virtue; vice
Genres: heroic couplet; address
References: DMI 11664

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Source edition

Barber, Mary, ca. 1690-1757. Poems on Several Occasions [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1734, pp. 122-123. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T42622; DMI 519; Foxon p. 45) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 3644].)

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