88 Aline Bradjl reefs Works.
When once the Calkets op'ned; yet to you
Let this be added, then I'le bid adieu,
If you fhall think, it will be to your fhame [viii]
To be in print, then I muft bear the blame:
If't be a fault, 'tis mine, 'tis fhame that might
Deny fo fair an Infant of its right,
To look abroad; I know your modefl mind,
How you will blufh, complain, 'tis too unkind:
To force a womans birth, provoke her pain,
Expofe her labours to the Worlds difdain.
I know you'l fay, you do defie that mint,
That ftampt you thus, to be a fool in print.
'Tis true, it doth not now fo neatly ftand,
As if 'twere pollifht with 3'our own fweet hand;
'Tis not fo richly deckt, fo trimly tir'd,
Yet it is fuch as juftly is admir'd.
If it be folly, 'tis of both, or neither.
Both you and I, we'l both be fools together;
And he that fayes, 'tis foolifh, (if my word
May fway) by my confent fhall make the third,
I dare out-face the "worlds difdain for both.
If you alone profefs you are not wroth;
Yet if you are, a Womans wrath is little.
When thoufands elfe admire you in each Tittle.
- Both this and the address to the reader were undoubtedly written by
the Rev. John Woodbridge, first minister of Andover. He was Mrs. Brad- street's brother-in-law, having married her sister Mercy. He sailed for England in 1647, and was there when the first edition of these poems was published. A more particular account of him is given in the Introduction.
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