[Page 55]

A Letter written for my Daughter
[ed.] Mira Barber (b. 1717). (AH)
to a Lady, who had presented her with a Cap.

1 Your late kind Gift let me restore;
2 For I must never wear it more.
3 My Mother cries, "What's here to do?
4 "A Crimson Velvet Cap for you!
5 "If to these Heights so soon you climb,
6 "You'll wear a Coachman's Cap in time:
7 "Perhaps on Palfry pace along,
8 "With ruffled Shirt, and Tete-Moutton;
9 "Banish the Woman from your Face,
10 "And let the Rake supply the Place;
11 "Delighted see the People stare,
12 "And ask each other what you are?
13 If she goes on to this dull Tune,
14 Poor I must be a Quaker soon.
[Page 56]
15 She'll scarcely let me wear a Knot;
16 But keeps me like a Hottentot;
17 Says, Dressing plain, at small Expence,
18 Shews better Taste, and better Sense.
19 I'd take her Judgment, I confess,
20 Sooner in any Thing, than Dress;
21 A Science, which she little knows,
22 Who only huddles on her Cloaths.
23 This Day, to please my Brother Con.
24 She let me put your Present on;
25 And when she saw me very glad,
26 Cry'd out, She looks like one that's mad!
27 "Know, Girl, (says she) that Affectation
28 "Suits only those in higher Station;
29 "Who plead Prescription for their Rule,
30 "Whene'er they please to play the Fool:
31 "But that it best becomes us Cits,
32 "To dress like People in their Wits. "

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): A Letter written for my Daughter to a Lady, who had presented her with a Cap.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: clothing; social order; fashion; parents; children
Genres: epistle
References: DMI 11367

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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. 55-56. 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