![[frontispiece]](/images/authors/colour-portraits/banner-frontispiece.jpg)
![[section of text]](/images/screenshots/ECPA-snippet5.jpg)
![[poet writing]](/images/authors/colour-portraits/banner-poet.jpg)
[Page 224][Page 226]
The QUESTION.
Occasion'd by a serious Admonition.
1 IS Mirth a Crime? Instruct me you that know;
2 Or shou'd these Eyes with Tears eternal flow:
3 No (let ye Powers) let this Bosom find,
4 Life's one grand Comfort a contented Mind:
5 Preserve this Heart, and may it find no room
6 For pale Despondence or unpleasing Gloom:
7 Too well the Mischief and the Pangs we know
8 Of doubtful Musing and prophetick Woe.
9 But now these Evils for a Moment rest,
10 And brighter Visions please the quiet Breast,
11 Where sprightly Health its blessed Cordial pours,
12 And chearful Thought deceives the gliding Hours:
[Page 225]13 Then let me smile, and trifle while I may,
14 Yet not from Virtue nor from Reason stray:
15 From hated Slander I wou'd keep my Tongue;
16 My Heart from Envy, and from Guilt my Song:
17 Nature's large Volume with Attention read,
18 Its God acknowledge, and believe my Creed:
19 Through Weakness, not Impiety, offend;
20 But love my Parent, and esteem my Friend.
21 If (like the most) my undistinguish'd Days
22 Deserve not much of Censure or of Praise:
23 If my still Life, like subterraneous Streams,
24 Glides unobserv'd, nor tainted by Extremes,
25 Nor dreadful Crime has stain'd its early Page,
26 To hoard up Terrors for reflecting Age;
27 Let me enjoy the sweet Suspence of Woe,
28 When Heav'n strikes me, I shall own the Blow:
29 Till then let me indulge one simple Hour,
30 Like the pleas'd Infant o'er a painted Flow'r:
31 Idly 'tis true: But guiltlesly the Time
32 Is spent in trifling with a harmless Rhyme.
33 Heroick Virtue asks a noble Mind,
34 A Judgment strong, and Passions well refin'd:
35 But if that Virtue's measur'd by the Will,
36 'Tis surely something to abstain from Ill.
Source edition
Leapor, Mrs. (Mary), 1722-1746. Poems upon several occasions: By Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire. London: printed: and sold by J. Roberts, 1748, pp. 224-226. 15,[5],282p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T127827; Foxon p. 413; OTA K101776.000) (Page images digitized from a copy at University of California Libraries.)
Editorial principles
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.
Other works by Mary Leapor
- ADVICE to MYRTILLO. ()
- The APPARITION. ()
- The BEAUTIES of the SPRING. ()
- CATHARINA's CAVE. ()
- CELADON to MIRA. ()
- The CHARMS of ANTHONY. ()
- COLINETTA. ()
- The CRUCIFIXION and RESURRECTION. An ODE. ()
- The CRUEL PARENT. A DREAM. ()
- DAMON and STREPHON. A Pastoral Complaint. ()
- DAVID'S Complaint, ii Samuel, chap. 1. ()
- The DEATH of ABEL. ()
- DORINDA at her Glass. ()
- The ENQUIRY. ()
- An EPISTLE to a LADY. ()
- An EPITAPH. ()
- An EPITAPH. ()
- ESSAY on FRIENDSHIP. ()
- ESSAY on HAPPINESS. ()
- An ESSAY on HOPE. ()
- The FALL of LUCIA. ()
- The FIELDS of MELANCHOLY and CHEARFULNESS. ()
- FLORIMELIA, the First PASTORAL. ()
- FLORIMELIA, the Second PASTORAL. ()
- The FOX and the HEN. A FABLE. ()
- The FRIEND in Disgrace. A DIALOGUE. ()
- The GENIUS in DISGUISE. ()
- The HEAD-ACH. To AURELIA. ()
- An HYMN to the MORNING. ()
- The INSPIR'D QUILL. Occasion'd by a Present of CROW-PENS. ()
- JOB'S CURSE, and his APPEAL. Taken out of Job, Chap. i, and xxxi. ()
- The LIBYAN HUNTER, a FABLE. Inscrib'd to the Memory of a late admir'd Author. ()
- The LINNET and the GOLDFINCH. ()
- MIRA to OCTAVIA. ()
- MIRA's WILL. ()
- The MISTAKEN LOVER. ()
- The MONTH of AUGUST. ()
- The MORAL VISION. ()
- An ODE on MERCY: In Imitation of Part of the 145th Psalm. ()
- On DISCONTENT. To STELLA. ()
- On Mr. POPE's Universal PRAYER. ()
- On SICKNESS. ()
- On the Death of a justly admir'd AUTHOR. ()
- On WINTER. ()
- The PENITENT. Occasion'd by the Author's being asked if she would take Ten Pounds for her Poems. ()
- The POWER of BEAUTY. ()
- A PRAYER for the YEAR, 1745. ()
- The Proclamation of APOLLO. ()
- The PROPOSAL. ()
- PROSERPINE'S RAGOUT. ()
- A REQUEST to the DIVINE BEING. ()
- The RIVAL BROTHERS. ()
- The SACRIFICE. An EPISTLE to CELIA. ()
- The SETTING SUN. To SILVIA. ()
- SILVIA and the BEE. ()
- SONG to CLOE, playing on her Spinet. ()
- SOTO. A CHARACTER. ()
- The SOW and the PEACOCK. A FABLE. ()
- STEPHON to CELIA. A modern LOVE-LETTER. ()
- A SUMMER'S WISH. ()
- The TALE of CUSHI. From II. Samuel, Chap. xviii. ()
- The TEMPLE of LOVE. ()
- The TEN-PENNY NAIL. ()
- The Third Chapter of the Wisdom of SOLOMON. From the First to the Sixth Verse. ()
- To a Gentleman with a Manuscript Play. ()
- To ARTEMISIA. Dr. KING's Invitation to BELLVILL: Imitated. ()
- To GRAMMATICUS. ()
- The UNIVERSAL DREAM. ()
- The WAY of the WORLD. ()