ON WHAT THE WORLD WILL SAY. Mary Alcock (née Cumberland) 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. T86344 Alcock [née Cumberland], Mary, 1741?–1798. Poems, &c. &c. by the Late Mrs. Mary Alcock [poems only]. London Printed for C. Dilly, Poultry 1799 pp. 37-39. vii,[25],183,[1]p.

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ON WHAT THE WORLD WILL SAY . Of all the foolish vain pretences , That mortals use to cheat their senses , This has the greatest sway — Not that , which conscience dictates right , Tho' clearly mark'd as day from night , But what the World will say . To this , as to some idol god , Who rules us with an iron rod , We sacrifice each day ; Our time , our judgment , and our ease Alike bow down this shrine to please Thro' fear what it might say . Thus subject to it's base control , We check each motion of the soul , Which points to Reason's way , Left , varying from the giddy throng , We rudely shew them they are wrong , What would they then not say ? While motives weak as these prevail , We turn with every shifting sail Of Fashion's pow'rful sway , Down her impetuous tide we're hurl'd , Lost to each comfort in the world , Thro' fear what it might say . Thus like some heedless bark we're tost , Till foundering on that very coast Where all our treasure lay , Deserted and forlorn we lie , Unpitied by each stander-by , Nor cheer'd by what they say . Oh could the World that peace bestow , Which , courting it , we all forego , Our toils it well would pay ; But since the sad reverse we find , 'Tis nought but madness e'er to mind What such a World can say .