OH Happiness! to which we all aspire,
Wing'd with strong hope, and borne by full desire,
Oh Ease! for which in want, in wealth we sigh,
That Ease for which we labour and we die.
Why should the Female ever have the power,
To tyrannize o'er Man, and to devour?
Why should the wife, the learned, and the fool,
The brave, the rich.... submit to Woman's rule?
Ask of the learn'd the cause, the learn'd are blind,
This bids us seek, that shun all Womankind;
Some place the bliss in serving'one alone, Some by a single Passion are undone.
Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain.
Some, swell'd to Gods,... confess all pleasure vain;
Some hold the maxim others wrong would call,
To try all Women... and to doubt them all.
Oh, Sons of Men! attempt no more to rise,
But own the wond'rous force of Woman's eyes;
Who, big with laughter, your vain toil surveys,
And shews her power a thousand diff'rent ways.
Know all the happiness we hope to find,
Depends upon the will of Womankind.
Nothing so true as Pope, long since, let fall,
"Most Women have no characters at all";
How many pictures of one nymph we view!
All how unlike each other... all how true!
See Sin in state majestically drunk;
Proud as a Peeress, prouder as a punk;
Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside,
A teeming mistress, but a barren bride;
In whose mad brain the mix'd ideas roll,
Of Tallboy's breeches, and Caesar's soul.
Who, spite of delicasy, stoops at once,
And makes her hearty meal upon a dunce.
In Men we various ruling passion find,
In Women... two alone divide the mind;
Those only fixed, they, first or last, obey,
The love of pleasure, and the love of sway.