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The Prodigy.

A Letter to a Friend in the Country.

1 Tho' Rhyme serves the Thoughts of great Poets to fetter,
2 It sets off the Sense of small Poets the better.
3 When I've written in Prose, I often have found,
4 That my Sense, in a Jumble of Words, was quite drown'd.
5 In Verse, as in Armies, that march o'er the Plain,
6 The least Man among them is seen without Pain.
7 This they owe to good Order, it must be allow'd;
8 Else Men that are little, are lost in a Croud.
9 So much for Simile: Now, to be brief,
10 The following Lines come to tell you my Grief.
11 'Tis well I can write; for I scarcely can speak,
12 I'm so plagu'd with my Teeth, which eternally ake.
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13 When the Wind's in the Point which opposes the South,
14 For Fear of the Cold, I can't open my Mouth:
15 And you know, to the Sex it must be a Heart-breaking,
16 To have any Distemper, that keeps them from speaking.
17 When first I was silent a Day and a Night,
18 The Women were all in a terrible Fright.
19 Supplications to Jove, in an Instant, they make —
20 "Avert the Portent — a Woman not speak!
21 "Since Poets are Prophets, and often have sung,
22 "The last Thing that dies in a Woman's her Tongue;
23 "O Jove, for what Crime is Sapphira thus curst?
24 "'Tis plain by her Breathing, her Tongue has dy'd first.
25 "Ye Powers celestial, tell Mortals, what Cause
26 "Occasions Dame nature to break her own Laws?
27 "Did the Preacher live now, from his Text he must run;
28 "And own there was something new under the Sun.
29 "O Jove, for the future this Punishment spare;
30 "And all other Evils we'll willingly bear."
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31 Then they throng to my House, and my Maid they beseech,
32 To say, if her Mistress had quite lost her Speech.
33 Nell readily own'd, what they heard was too true;
34 That To-day I was dumb, give the Devil his Due:
35 And frankly confess'd, were it always the Case,
36 No Servant could e'er have a happier Place.
37 When they found it was Fact, they began all to fear me;
38 And, dreading Infection, would scarcely come near me:
39 Till a Neighbour of mine, who was famous for Speeching,
40 Bid them be of good Cheer, the Disease was not catching;
41 And offer'd to prove, from Authors good Store,
42 That the like Case with this never happen'd before;
43 And if Ages to come should resemble the past,
44 As 'twas the first Instance, it would be the last.
45 Yet against this Disorder we all ought to strive:
46 Were I in her Case, I'd been bury'd alive.
47 Were I one Moment silent, except in my Bed,
48 My good natur'd Husband would swear I was dead.
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49 The next said, her Tongue was so much in her Pow'r,
50 She was sullenly silent almost — half an Hour:
51 That, to vex her good Man, she took this Way to teaze him;
52 But soon left it off, when she found it would please him:
53 And vow'd, for the future, she'd make the Housering;
54 For when she was dumb, he did nothing but sing.
55 Quite tir'd with their Talking, I held down my Head:
56 So she who sat next me, cry'd out, I was dead.
57 They call'd for cold Water to throw in my Face:
58 Give her Air, give her Air — and cut open her Lace.
59 Says good Neighbour Nevil, You're out of your Wits;
60 She oft, to my Knowledge, has these sullen Fits:
61 Let her Husband come in, and make one Step that's wrong,
62 My Life for't, the Woman will soon find her Tongue.
63 You'll soon be convinc'd — O' my Conscience, he's here —
64 Why what's all this Rout? — Are you sullen, my Dear?
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65 This struck them all silent; which gave me some Ease.
66 And made them imagine they'd got my Disease.
67 So they hasted away in a terrible Fright;
68 And left me, in Silence, to pass the long Night.
69 Not the Women alone were scar'd at my Fate;
70 'Twas reckon'd of dreadful Portent to the State.
71 When the Governors heard it, they greatly were troubled;
72 And, whilst I was silent, the Guards were all doubled:
73 The Militia Drums beat a perpetual Alarm,
74 To rouze up the Sons of the City to arm.
75 A Story was rumour'd about from
* A small Island near Dublin.
Lambey,
76 Of a powerful Fleet, that was seen off at Sea.
77 With Horror all list to the terrible Tale;
78 The Barristers tremble, the Judges grow pale;
79 To the Castle the frighted Nobility fly;
80 And the Council were summon'd, they could not tell why;
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81 The Clergy in Crouds to the Churches repair;
82 And Armies, embattled, were seen in the Air.
83 Why they were in this Fright, I have lately been told,
84 It seems, it was sung by a Druid of old,
85 That the Hanover Race to Great-Britain should come;
86 And sit on the Throne, till a Woman grew dumb.
87 As soon as this Prophecy reach'd the Pretender,
88 He cry'd out, My Claim to the Crown I surrender.

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Title (in Source Edition): The Prodigy. A Letter to a Friend in the Country.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: illness; injury
Genres: comic verse; epistle; narrative verse
References: DMI 11338

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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. 22-27. 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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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. 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 Barber