VERSES Upon the Late D
ss of
M
.
By Mr.
P
.
LONDON:
Printed for W. WEBB, near St.
Paul
's, 1746. (Price Sixpence.)
VERSES Upon the Late D
ss of
M
.
BUT what are these to great
Atossa
's Mind,
Scarce once herself, by Turns all Womankind?
Who with herself, and others from her Birth,
Finds all her Life one Warfare upon Earth;
Shines in exposing Knaves and painting Fools,
Yet is whate'er she hates or ridicules.
No Thought advances, but her eddy Brain
Whirls it about, and down it goes again.
Full sixty Years the World has been her Trade,
The wisest Fool much Time has ever made:
From Loveless Youth to unrespected Age,
No Passion gratify'd except her Rage;
So much the Fury still out-ran the Wit,
The Pleasure miss'd her, and the Scandal hit;
Who breaks with her, provokes Revenge from Hell,
But he's a bolder Man who dares be well;
Her ev'ry Turn with Violence pursu'd,
Nor more a Storm her Hate, than Gratitude:
To that each Passion turns or soon or late,
Love, if it make her yield, must make her hate,
Superior 's Death! an Equal, what a Curse!
But an Inferior, not Dependant, worse.
Offend her, and she knows not to forgive,
Oblige her, and she'll hate you while you live.
But die, and she'll adore you
Alludes to a Temple she erected with a Bust of Queen
Anne
in it, which mouldered away in a few Years.
—Then the Bust
And Temple rise,—then fall again to Dust.
Last Night her Lord was all that's good and great;
A Knave this Morning, and his Will a Cheat.
Strange! by the Means defeated of the Ends.
By Spirit, robb'd of Power; by Warmth, of Friends;
By Wealth, of Followers; without one Distress,
Sick of herself thro' very Selfishness,
Atossa
's curs'd with ev'ry granted Prayer,
Childless with all her Children, wants an Heir:
To Heirs unknown, descends th' unnumber'd Store,
Or wanders, Heaven directed, to the Poor.
FINIS.
THESE Verses are Part of a Poem, entitled
Characters of Women.
It is generally said, the D
ss gave Mr.
P.
1000
l.
to suppress them: He took the Money, yet the World sees the Verses; but this is not the first Instance where Mr.
P
's practical Virtue has fallen very short of those pompous Professions of it he makes in his Writings.