[Page 51]

Written for a Gentlewoman in Distress. To her Grace Adelida, Dutchess of Shrewsbury
[ed.] "The wife of Charles, first Duke of Shrewsbury, whom she married in 1705, Adelaide Paleotti was the widowed daughter of the Marquess Paleotti of Bologna. [...] The Duchess was on excellent terms with Swift and gave him his nickname 'Presto'." (Tucker [1992], 211) (AH)
.

1 Might I inquire the Reasons of my Fate,
2 Or with my Maker dare expostulate;
3 Did I, in prosp'rous Days, despise the Poor,
4 Or drive the friendless Stranger from my Door?
5 Was not my Soul pour'd out for the Distress'd?
6 Did I not vindicate the Poor oppress'd?
7 Did not the Orphan's Cry with me prevail?
8 Did I not weep the Woes I could not heal?
9 Why then, Thou gracious, Thou all-pow'rful God,
10 Why do I feel th' Oppressor's Iron Rod?
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11 Why thus the Scorners cruel Taunts endure,
12 Who basely fret the Wounds, they will not cure?
13 O Thou, whose Mercy does to All extend,
14 Say, shall my Sorrows never, never, end?
15 Let not my Tears for ever, fruitless, flow;
16 Commiserate a Wretch, o'erwhelm'd with Woe;
17 No longer let Distress my Bosom tear:
18 O shield me from the Horrors of Despair!
19 Forgive me, Madam, that I thus impart
20 The Throbs, the Anguish, of a breaking Heart.
21 Oft, when my weary'd Eyes can weep no more,
22 To sooth my Woes, I read your Letters o'er.
23 Goodness, and Wit, and Humour, there I find;
24 And view with Joy those Pictures of your Mind;
25 With Pleasure on the lov'd Resemblance gaze,
26 Till peaceful Slumbers on my Eye-lids seize.
27 Then, then, Imagination glads my Sight
28 With transient Images of past Delight;
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29 My aking Heart of ev'ry Care beguiles;
30 Then Talbot lives, and Adelida smiles.
31 Delightful Forms! why will you fleet away,
32 And leave me to the Terrors of the Day?
33 In vain from Reason I expect Relief;
34 For sad Reflection doubles ev'ry Grief.
35 Some of my Friends in Death's cold Arms I see;
36 Others, tho, living, yet are dead to me?
37 Of Friends, and Children both, I am bereft,
38 And soon must lose the only Blessing left;
39 A Husband form'd for Tenderness and Truth,
40 The lov'd, the kind Companion of my Youth;
41 With him, thro' various Storms of Fate I pass'd;
42 Relentless Fate! And must we part at last?
43 O King of Terrors, I invoke thy Pow'r;
44 Oh! stand between me and that dreadful Hour;
45 From that sad Hour thy wretched Suppliant save;
46 Oh! shield me from it! Hide me in the Grave!

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Title (in Source Edition): Written for a Gentlewoman in Distress. To her Grace Adelida, Dutchess of Shrewsbury.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: grief; sadness; melancholy
Genres: heroic couplet; lament
References: DMI 11365

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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. 51-53. 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