The Fatality. Sarah Fyge Egerton 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. T125148 Egerton, Sarah Fyge, 1668-1723. Poems on Several Occasions, Together with a Pastoral. By Mrs. S. F. [poems only] London printed, and are to be sold by J. Nutt, near Stationers-Hall 1703 pp. 72-73. [20],117,[3],15,[1]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;
The Fatality . Come all ye grand Predestinarians now , Your Doctrine to the Height I will allow : I who with utmost Force resist my Fate , But am to Ills alone predestinate ; In vain I strive th' immutable Decree , Has pass'd on my unlucky Destiny . With Sighs and Tears I did at first begin , To conquer Fate as others would their Sin ; Each Path I trod I went with Caution on , But every Step doth lead to be undone : And when a threatening Storm was in my View , I from it ( wisely as I thought ) withdrew ; But whilst the approaching Ills with Fear I shun , Into some other certain Harms I run ; So when some mighty Grief did press my Soul , I would th' uneasy Tyranny controul ; ( Like a distracted Man that will not bear , Those Fetters which Discretion makes him wear ; But frets and raves , and breaks the friendly Chain , Which did from greater Injuries restrain ; He'll not be bar'd a dangerous Liberty , Tho' he to Outrages and Mischief fly . ) Thus I from one Misfortune force my Way , By Means that does to greater still betray ; One Sorrow seldom attends long on me , I have a torturing Variety , I change and change , yet still 'tis Misery . A Hydra Fate my Ruin does pursue , Cut off one ill , strait , there springs up a new , And they'll arise ad infinitum too . Ther's none the mystick Scrolls of Fate can read , Nor shun the Ills by mighty Powers decreed , Hood-wink'd by them , just as they guide we tread . In vain we say we this or that will do , It cannot be unless they'll have it so ; The only Way to ease our Discontents , Is to conclude they must be such Events ; Such as the mighty hidden source of Things , Bubbles from it's inevitable Springs .