[Page 114]

To a Lady who was libell'd.

1 When Cynthia, Regent of the Tides,
2 Pale in meridian Pride presides;
3 A Sov'reign Pow'r the Goddess claims
4 O'er Seas, and Sea-supplying Streams;
5 The River of the richest Source
6 With Ease she turns, and checks his Course;
7 His crystal Clearness can defile
8 With ev'ry Filth, and Salt as vile;
9 However strong, and smooth, and pure,
10 Her Tyranny he must endure;
11 Till, her Dominion in the Wain,
12 He clears, and is himself again.
[Page 117]
13 Thus, over black, benighted Brains,
14 Fell Envy, baleful Goddess, reigns;
15 O'er mortal Passions, pale, presides;
16 Passions, the Soul's tumultuous Tides;
17 Which, in their fierce, resistless Sway,
18 Invade all Merit in their Way;
19 With Ease the clearest Truths confute,
20 With Ease the purest Worth pollute;
21 Check ev'ry Virtue in its Course,
22 And taint, impetuous, to its Source,
23 The Current of the fairest Fame,
24 By forcing Filth into the Stream.
25 So are you sully'd for a Season,
26 Till Rage recoils, and yields to Reason:
27 Then turns the Tide your Credit clears,
28 And all your real Worth appears.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): To a Lady who was libell'd.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: virtue; vice
Genres: satire
References: DMI 11548

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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. 114-117. 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