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Matthew Prior. Dialogues of the Dead and Other Works

in Prose and Verse. The Text Edited by A. R. Waller

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Silvia.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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111

Silvia.

An Epigram.

Her time with equal prudence Silvia shares,
First writes her Billet-doux, then says her pray'rs,
Her mass and toilet; vespers, and the play;
Thus God and Ashtaroth divide the day:
Constant she keeps her Ember-week, and Lent,
At Easter calls all Israel to her tent:
Loose without band, and pious without zeal,
She still repeats the sins she would conceal;
Envy her self from Silvia's life must grant,
An artful woman makes a modern saint.