[Page 36]

Written for my Son, and spoken by him in School, upon his Master's first bringing in a Rod.

1 Our Master, in a fatal Hour,
2 Brought in this Rod, to shew his Pow'r.
3 O dreadful Birch! O baleful Tree!
4 Thou Instrument of Tyranny!
5 Thou deadly Damp to youthful Joys!
6 The Sight of thee our Peace destroys.
7 Not Damocles, with greater Dread,
8 Beheld the Weapon o'er his Head.
9 That
* See Locke upon Education.
Sage was surely more discerning,
10 Who taught to play us into Learning,
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11 By 'graving Letters on the Dice:
12 May Heav'n reward the kind Device,
13 And crown him with immortal Fame,
14 Who taught at once to read and game!
15
* Bowing to his Master.
Take my Advice; pursae that Rule;
16 You'll make a Fortune by your School.
17 You'll soon have all the elder Brothers,
18 And be the Darling of their Mothers.
19 O may I live to hail the Day,
20 When Boys shall go to School to play!
21 To Grammar Rules we'll bid Defiance;
22 For Play will then become a Science.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): Written for my Son, and spoken by him in School, upon his Master's first bringing in a Rod.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: education
Genres: admonition
References: DMI 11347

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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. 36-37. 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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Other works by Mary Barber