Written at Bath to a young Lady, who had just before given me a short Answer. Mary Barber Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T42622 519 p. 45 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. 124-125. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰.

This e-text is part of the Works section of the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

XML created for the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

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 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.

Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; text-align: right; text-align: left; display: inline font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
Written at Bath to a young Lady , who had just before given me a short Answer . You us'd me ill , and I withdrew , Intent on satirizing you . The Muses to my Aid I call ; They came ; and told me , one and all , That I mistook their Province quite , They never sully'd what was bright ; And said , If Satire was my Aim , I ought to chuse another Theme . I heard with Anger , and Surprize ; Begg'd they'd inspire , and not advise . In vain I begg'd — they all withdrew ; When to my Aid a Phantom flew , And vow'd she'd give my Satire Stings , And whisper'd some resentful Things — Said , You delighted , all your Days , To torture her a thousand Ways : Bid me revenge her Cause , and mine , And blacken you in ev'ry Line . This I resolv'd ; but still in vain — We both must unreveng'd remain : For I , alas ! remember now , I long ago had made a Vow , That , should the Nine their Aid refuse , Envy should never be my Muse .