149:30,000[' ]| 149:30,001[' ]| <1681> 149:30,002[A ]| Of a great heroine I mean to tell 149:30,003[A ]| And by what just degrees her titles swell: 149:30,004[A ]| To Mrs.Nelly grown from Cinder Nell. 149:30,005[A ]| Much did she suffer first on bulk and stage 149:30,006[A ]| From the black-guard and bullies of the Age; 149:30,007[A ]| Much more her growing virtue did sustain 149:30,008[A ]| While dear Charles Hart and Buckhurst sued in vain. 149:30,009[A ]| In vain they sued; cursed be the envious tongue 149:30,010[A ]| That her undoubted chastity would wrong! 149:30,011[A ]| For should we Fame believe, we then might say 149:30,012[A ]| That thousands lay with her, as well as they. 149:30,013[A ]| But, Fame, thou liest, for her prophetic mind 149:30,014[A ]| Foresaw her greatness Fate had well designed, 149:30,015[A ]| And her ambition chose to be, before 149:30,016[A ]| A virtuous countess, an imperial whore. 149:30,017[A ]| Even in her native dirt her soul was high 149:30,018[A ]| And did at crowns and shining monarchs fly; 149:30,019[A ]| Even while she cinders raked, her swelling breast 149:30,020[A ]| With thoughts of glorious whoredom was possessed; 149:30,021[A ]| Still did she dream (nor could her birth withstand) 149:30,022[A ]| Of dandling sceptres in her dirty hand. 149:30,023[A ]| But first the basket her fair arm did suit, 149:30,024[A ]| Laden with pippins and Hesperian fruit; 149:30,025[A ]| This first step raised, to the wondering Pit she sold 149:30,026[A ]| The lovely fruit, smiling with streaks of gold. 149:30,027[A ]| Fate now for her did its whole force engage, 149:30,028[A ]| And from the Pit she's mounted to the stage; 149:30,029[A ]| There in full lustre did her glories shine 149:30,030[A ]| And, long eclipsed, spread forth their light divine: 149:30,031[A ]| There Hart's and Rowley's soul she did ensnare 149:30,032[A ]| And made a King the rival to a player. 149:30,033[A ]| The King o'ercomes, and to the royal bed 149:30,034[A ]| The dunghill's offspring is in triumph led; 149:30,035[A ]| Nor let the envious her first rags object 149:30,036[A ]| To her that's now in tawdry gayness decked: 149:30,037[A ]| Her merit does from this much greater show, 149:30,038[A ]| Mounting so high that took her rise so low. 149:30,039[A ]| Less famed that Nelly was, whose cuckold's rage 149:30,040[A ]| In ten years' wars did half the world engage. 149:30,041[A ]| She's now the darling strumpet of the crowd, 149:30,042[A ]| Forgets her state and talks to them aloud, 149:30,043[A ]| Lays by her greatness and descends to prate 149:30,044[A ]| With those above whom she's raised by wondrous fate; 149:30,045[A ]| True to the Protestant interest and cause, 149:30,046[A ]| True to the established government and laws, 149:30,047[A ]| The choice delight of the whole mobileÄ 149:30,048[A ]| Scarce Monmouth's self is more beloved than she. 149:30,049[A ]| Was this the cause that did their quarrel move, 149:30,050[A ]| That both are rivals in the people's love? 149:30,051[A ]| No! 'twas her matchless loyalty alone 149:30,052[A ]| That bid prince Perkin pack up and be gone: 149:30,053[A ]| Ill-bred thou art, says prince. Nell does reply: 149:30,054[A ]| Was Mrs. Barlow better bred than I? 149:30,055[A ]| Thus sneaked away the nephew, overcome, 149:30,056[A ]| By his aunt-in-law's severer wit struck dumb. 149:30,057[A ]| Her virtue, loyalty, wit, and noble mind, 149:30,058[A ]| In the foregoing doggerel you may find 149:30,059[A ]| Now for her piety, one touch, and then 149:30,060[A ]| To Rymer I'll resign my muse and pen. 149:30,061[A ]| 'Twas this that raised her charity so high 149:30,062[A ]| To visit those that did in durance lie: 149:30,063[A ]| From Oxford prisons many did she free, 149:30,064[A ]| There died her father and there gloried she, 149:30,065[A ]| In giving others life and liberty. 149:30,066[A ]| So pious a remembrance still she bore, 149:30,067[A ]| Even to the fetters that her father wore; 149:30,068[A ]| Nor was her mother's funeral less her care, 149:30,069[A ]| No cost, no velvet did the daughter spare: 149:30,070[A ]| Fine gilded scutcheons did the hearse enrich 149:30,071[A ]| To celebrate this martyr of the ditch, 149:30,072[A ]| Burnt brandy did in flaming brimmers flow, 149:30,073[A ]| Drunk at her funeral, while her well-pleased shade 149:30,074[A ]| Rejoiced even in the sober fields below 149:30,075[A ]| At all the drunkenness her death had made. 149:30,076[A ]| Was ever child with such a mother blessed? 149:30,077[A ]| Or ever mother such a child possessed? 149:30,078[A ]| Nor must her cousin be forgot, preferred 149:30,079[A ]| From many years' command in the black-guard 149:30,080[A ]| To be an ensign: 149:30,081[A ]| Whose tattered colours well do represent 149:30,082[A ]| His first estate in the ragged regiment. 149:30,083[A ]| Thus we in short have all the virtues seen 149:30,084[A ]| Of the incomparable Madam Gwyn; 149:30,085[A ]| Nor wonder others are not with her shown: 149:30,086[A ]| She who no equal has must be alone. 149:30,000[' ]| 149:30,000[' ]|