Lady
The Ladies Defence: (Chap. 6)
Words, whose Sense, you never understood, And for that Reason, are nor kind, nor good.
Parson. Why all this Rage? we merit not your hate 'Tis you alone disturb the marriage state If to your Lords you strict Allegiance paid, And their Commands submissively obeyed If likewise Eastern Slaves with trembling awe you watche their Looks, and made their Will your Law, You would both Kindness and Protection gain, And find your duteous Care was not in vain.This, I advised, this, I your Sex have taught; And ought Instruction to be called a Fault? Your Duty was I knew the harder part; Obedience being a harsh, uneasy Art:
The Skill to Govern, Men with ease can learn;We're soon instructed in our own Concern. But you need all the Aid that I can give, To make you unrepining Vassals live. Heaven, you must own, to you has been less kind, You cannot boast our Steadiness of Mind, Nor is your Knowledge half so unconfined; We can beyond the Bounds of Nature see, And dare to Fathom vast Infinity. Then soar aloft, and view the Worlds on high, And all the inmost Mansions of the sky gaze on the Wonders, on the Beauties there,And talk with the bright Phantoms of the Air Observe their Customs, Policy and State, And pry into the dark Intrigues of Fate: Nay more than this, we Atoms can divide, And all the Questions of the Schools decide: Turn Falsehood into Truth, and Impudence to Shame, Change Malice into Zeal, and Infamy to Fame, Makes Vices Virtues, Honor but a Name. Nothing's too hard for our Almighty Sense, But you, not blest with Phœbus influence, Wither in Shades; with nauseous Dullness Born Fools, and by resembling Idiots Nurst;