If we on you such Obloquies had thrown, We had not, sure, one peaceful Minute known But you are Wise, and still know what is best, And with your selves may be allowed to Jest.

Parson. How dare you treat me with so much neglect? My sacred Function calls for more Respect.

Melissa. I've still revered your Order as Divine, And when I see unblemished Virtue Shine, When solid Learning, and substantial Sense, Are joined with unaffected Eloquence, When Lives and Doctrines of a Piece are made, And holy Truths with humble Zeal conveyed, When free from Passion, Bigotry and Pride, Not swayed by Interest, nor to Parties tied, Contemning Riches, and abhorring Strife, And shunning all the noisy Pomps of life, you live the awful Wonders of your Time, Without the least suspicion of a Crime, I shall with Joy the highest Deference pay, And heedfully attend to all you say, From such, Reproofs shall always welcome prove, As being the' Effects of Piety and Love. But those from me can challenge no Respect, Who on us all without just Cause reflect, Who without Mercy all the Sex decry, and into open Defamations fly, who think us Creatures for Derision made, and the creator with his Work upbraid, what he called Good, they proudly think not so, And with their Malice, their Profaneness show. 'Tis hard we should be by the Men despised, Yet kept from knowing what would make us prized, Debarred from Knowledge, banished from the Schools, And with the utmost Industry bred fools. laughed out of reason, jested out of Sense, And nothing left but Native Innocence Then told we are incapable of Wit, And only for the meanest Drudgeries fit