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Poems, and phancies

written By the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, And Excellent Princess The Lady Marchioness of Newcastle [i.e. Margaret Cavendish]. The Second Impression, much Altered and Corrected

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The City of these Fairies is the Brain.

The Fairy's City in the Brain is found,
VVith Dur' and Pia-mater Compass'd round;
VVith a thick Scul it's Trenched all about,
And with great Art and Labour fac'd without;
The Fore-head is the Fort, which is Built high,
Instead of Centinels doth serve each Eye;
And that same place where Memory lies in,
Is great King Oberon his Magazine;
The Market-place the Mouth, when full, begun
Is Market-Day, when empty, Market's done;
The City-Conduit, where the Water flows,
Is with two Spouts, the Nostrils of the Nose,
And when these watery Spouts are not stopt close,
Then we do say, it is a Cold or Pose;
The Gates be the two Ears, when Deaf they are,
Then those two City-Gates the Fairies Barr:
This City's Govern'd, as most Cities be,
By Aldermen, and so by Mayoralty;
And Ob'ron King dwells never any where,
But in a Royal Head, whose Court is there,

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Which is the Kernel of the Brain, if seen,
We there might View him and his Beauteous Queen:
Sure that's their Court, and there they Sit in State,
And Noble Lords and Ladies on them wait.