Nicholas Amhurst

1697-1742 / England

To Strephon

Can Indignation so much Rage infuse?
And dwells there then such Malice in a Muse?
The sacred Nine, genteel and debonair,
Scorn to call Whore and Billingsgate the Fair:
Say then, from whence this mighty Fury rose,
Thus to attack our Belles in rhiming Prose?
By Laura's batter'd Charms disabled, hence
Thou rail'st, a Foe to Woman and to Sense,
In Dulness made a Bard and Impudence.
Unhappy Youth! who in both Ends dost fail,
How like thy Poem!--neither Head nor Tail!
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