An Epistle to The Right Honourable the Countess of Shaftesbury with A Prologue and Epilogue on Shakespeare and his Writings [by Thomas Cooke] |
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An Epilogue on Shakespeare's Women's Characters,
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 | An Epistle to The Right Honourable the Countess of Shaftesbury |  |
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An Epilogue on Shakespeare's Women's Characters,
Spoke by Mrs. Woffington, At the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane.
An antient Bard, Simonides his Name,
A saucy Fellow he, and void of Shame,
Does in his filthy Verses so abuse us,
As if he knew not rightly how to use us.
'Tis well the scurril Sland'rer wrote in Greek;
Which now but few can read, and fewer speak.
Women he has compar'd to Beasts, I'm told,
And fell, without Remorse, on young and old.
What then, says a pert Poet of our Days,
How are ye us'd by Shakespeare in his Plays?
Lady Macbeth's a Tygress stain'd with Blood,
And Tamora a Swine that rolls in Mud;
Regan's a Wolf, and Goneril's a Bear,
Who savagely the Hand that fed them tear.
All this is true; but shewing what is black
Soils not the Ermine, nor the Cygnet's Back.
Poor Desdemona's like a tender Dove,
As innocent and faithful in her Love;
Cordelia shines a Phœnix fit to rise
A Constellation, and adorn the Skys.
A saucy Fellow he, and void of Shame,
Does in his filthy Verses so abuse us,
As if he knew not rightly how to use us.
'Tis well the scurril Sland'rer wrote in Greek;
Which now but few can read, and fewer speak.
Women he has compar'd to Beasts, I'm told,
And fell, without Remorse, on young and old.
What then, says a pert Poet of our Days,
How are ye us'd by Shakespeare in his Plays?
Lady Macbeth's a Tygress stain'd with Blood,
And Tamora a Swine that rolls in Mud;
Regan's a Wolf, and Goneril's a Bear,
Who savagely the Hand that fed them tear.
All this is true; but shewing what is black
Soils not the Ermine, nor the Cygnet's Back.
Poor Desdemona's like a tender Dove,
As innocent and faithful in her Love;
Cordelia shines a Phœnix fit to rise
A Constellation, and adorn the Skys.
Tho Shakespeare often shews that Man is brave,
Each, once at least, in Life's a Woman's Slave;
Her Influence guides his Heart to Good or Ill,
And she directs his Hand to save or kill.
This is a Truth in ev'ry Place and Hour,
While Man has Strength to act, he is in Woman's Pow'r.
Each, once at least, in Life's a Woman's Slave;
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And she directs his Hand to save or kill.
This is a Truth in ev'ry Place and Hour,
While Man has Strength to act, he is in Woman's Pow'r.
| An Epistle to The Right Honourable the Countess of Shaftesbury | |