le race,
Men but assume that right;
First slaves to ev'ry tempting face,
Then martyrs to our spite.
You of one Orpheus sure have read,
Who would like you have writ
Had he in London-town been bred,
And polish'd too his wit;
But he poor soul, thought all was well
And great should be his fame,
When he had left his wife in hell
And birds, and beasts could tame.
Yet venturing then with scoffing rhimes
The women to incense,
Resenting heroines of those times
Soon punished his offence.
And as the Hebrus roll'd his skull,
And Harp besmeared with blood,
They clashing as the waves grew full
Still harmoniz'd the flood.
But you our follies gently treat,
And spin so fine the thread,
You need not fear his awkward fate,
The lock won't cost the head.
Our admiration you command
For all that's gone before;
What next we look for at your hand
Can only raise it more.
Yet sooth the ladies, I advise
(As me too pride has wrought)
We're born to wit, but to be wise
By admonitions taught.

The other pieces of this lady are,

An Epilogue to Jane Shore, to be spoken by Mrs. Oldfield the night
before the Poet's day.

To the Countess of Hertford with her Volume of Poems.

The Prodigy, a Poem, written at Tunbridge-Wells 1706, on the Admiration
that many expressed on a Gentleman's being in love, and their Endeavours
to dissuade him from it, with some Advice to the young Ladies how
to maintain their natural Prerogative. If all her other poetical
compositions are executed with as much spirit and elegance as these, the
lovers of poetry have some reason to be sorry that her station was such,
as to exempt her from the necessity of more frequently exercising a
genius so furnished by nature, to have made a great figure in that
divine art.

* * * * *

CHARLES GILDON.

This gentleman was born at Gillingham near Shaftsbury, in the county of
Dorset. His parents, and family were all of the Romish persuasion, but
they could not instil their principles into our author, who, as soon as
he began to reason, was able to discover the errors, and foppery of
that church. His father was a member of the society of Grays-Inn, and
suffered much for the Royal cause. The first rudiments of learning Mr.
Gildon had at the place of his nativity; thence his relations sent him
to the English college of secular priests at Doway in Hainau