Читать книгу An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex (a feminist literature classic) - Judith Drake - Страница 5

Table of Contents

LOng have we sung the Fam’d Orinda’s praise,

And own’d Astrea‘s Title to the Bays,

We to their Wit have paid the Tribute due,

But shou‘d be Bankrupt before just to you.

Sweet flowing Numbers, and fine Thoughts they writ.

But you Eternal Truths, as well as Wit.

In them the Force of Harmony we find,

In you the Strengh, and Vigour of the Mind.

Dark Clouds of Prejudice obscur’d their Verse,

You with Victorious Prose those Clouds disperse;

Those Foggs, which wou’d not to their Flame submit,

Vanish before your Rising Sun of Wit.

Our Sex have long thro’ Usurpation reign’d,

And by their Tyranny their Rule maintain’d.

Till wanton grown with Arbitrary Sway

Depos’d by you They practice to obey,

Proudly submitting, when such Graces meet,

Beauty by Nature, and by Conquest Wit.

For Wit they had on their own Sex entail’d,

Till for your self, and Sex you thus prevail’d.

Thrice happy Sex! Whose Foes such Pow’r disarms,

And gives fresh Lustre to your native Charms,

Whose Nervous Sense couch’d in close Method lies, Clear as her Soul, and piercing as her Eyes, If any yet so stupid shou’d appear, As still to doubt, what she has made so clear, Her Beautie’s Arguments they would allow, And to Her Eyes their full Conversion owe. And by Experiment the World Convince. The Force of Reason’s less, than that of Sense.

Your Sex you with such Charming Grace defend,

While that you vindicate, you Ours amend:

We in your Glass may see each foul defect,

And may not only see, but may correct.

In vain old Greece her Sages would compare, They taught what Men shou‘d be, you what they are. With doubtfull Notions they Mankind perplext, And with unpracticable Precept vext.

In vain they strove wild Passions to reclaim,

Uncertain what they were, or whence they came.

But you, who have found out their certain Source,

May with a happier Hand divert their Course.

Themselves so little did those Sages know,

That to their Failings We their Learning owe.

Their Vanity first caus’d ’em to aspire,

And with fierce Wranglings set all Greece on Fire: Thus into sects they split the Grecian youth, Contending more for Victory than Truth. Your Speculations nobler Ends persue, They aim not to be Popular, but true. You with strict Justice in an equal Light, Expose both Wit and Folly to our Sight. Yet as the Bee secure on Poyson feeds, Extracting Honey from the rankest Weeds: So safely you in Fools Instructours find, And Wisdom in the Follies of mankind.

With purer Waves henceforth shall Satyr flow,

And we this change to your chast Labours owe;

Satyr before from a Polluted Source

Brought Native Filth, augmented in its course.

No longer muddy shall those Streams appear,

Which you have purg‘d, and made so sweet, and clear.

Well may you Wit to us a wonder seem,

So strong’s the Current, yet so clear the stream,

Deep, but not Dull, thro’ each transparent Line

We see the Gems, which at the Bottom shine.

To your Correction freely we submit,

Who teach us Modesty as well as Wit.

Our Sex with Blushes must your Conquest own,

While yours prepare the Garlands you have won.

Your Fame secure long as your Sex shall last,

Nor Time, nor Envy shall your Lawrels blast.

James Drake.