Though Paradise were e'er so fair,

It was not kept so without care.

The whole world, without art and dress,

Would be but one great wilderness;

And mankind but a savage herd,

For all that Nature has conferr'd.

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This does but rough-hew, and design,
Leaves Art to polish and refine;
Though women first were made for men,
Yet men were made for them agen
For when (outwitted by his wife),
Man first turn'd tenant but for life;
If women had not interven'd,

How soon had mankind had an end!

And that it is in being yet,

To us alone you are in debt.

And where's your liberty of choice,
And our unnatural No-voice?
Since all the privilege you boast
And falsely usurp'd, or vainly lost,
Is now our right, to whose creation
You owe your happy restoration;
And if we had not weighty cause
To not appear in making laws,

We could, in spite of all your tricks,
And shallow formal politics,

Force you our managements t' obey,
As we to yours (in shew) give way.
Hence 'tis that while you vainly strive
T' advance your high prerogative,
You basely, after all your braves,
Submit, and own yourselves our slaves ;
And 'cause we do not make it known,
Nor publicly our int'rests own,
Like sots, suppose we have no shares

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In ordering you and your affairs,

When all your empire and command
You have from us, at second-hand;

As if a pilot, that appears

To sit still only, while he steers,

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And does not make a noise and stir,

Like every common mariner,

Knew nothing of the card, nor star,
And did not guide the man-of-war:
Nor we, because we do n't appear
In Councils, do not govern there;
While, like the mighty Prester John,
Whose person none dares look upon,

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But is preserv'd in close disguise

From being made cheap to vulgar eyes,
W'enjoy as large a pow'r, unseen,
To govern him, as he does men ;
And, in the right of our Pope Joan,
Make emperors at our feet fall down;
Or Joan de Pucelle's braver name,
Our right to arms and conduct claim;
Who, though a spinster, yet was able
To serve France for a Grand Constable.

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We make and execute all laws,
Can judge the Judges and the Cause;
Prescribe all rules of right or wrong,

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To th' long robe, and the longer tongue,
'Gainst which the world has no defence,
But our more powerful eloquence.
We manage things of greatest weight,
In all the world's affairs of state;
Are ministers of war and peace,

That

sway all nations how we please.

We rule all churches, and their flocks,

Heretical and orthodox ;

And are the heavenly vehicles

O' th' spirits in all Conventicles:

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By us is all commerce and trade

Improv'd, and manag'd, and decay'd;
For nothing can go off so well,

Nor bears that price, as what we sell.
We rule in every public meeting,
And make men do what we judge fitting;
Are magistrates in all great towns,

Where men do nothing but wear gowns.

We make the man of war strike sail,

And to our braver conduct veil,

And when he 'as chas'd his enemies,

Submit to us upon his knees.

Is there an officer of state,
Untimely rais'd, or magistrate,
That's haughty and imperious?
He's but a journeyman to us,

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That, as he gives us cause to do 't,

Can keep him in, or turn him out,

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We are your guardians, that increase,

Or waste, your fortunes how we please;

And, as you humour us, can deal

In all your matters, ill or well,

'Tis we that can dispose, alone, Whether your heirs shall be your own,

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To whose integrity you must,

In spite of all your caution, trust:
And, 'less you fly beyond the seas,

Can fit you with what heirs we please;

And force you t' own them, though begotten

By French valets, or Irish footmen.

Nor can the rigorousest course

Prevail, unless to make us worse;

Who still, the harsher we are us'd,

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For, when ye've try'd all sorts of ways,
What fools d' we make of you in plays?

While all the favours we afford,

Are but to girt you with the sword,
To fight our battles in our steads,
And have your brains beat out o' your
Encounter, in despite of Nature,
And fight at once with fire and water,

heads;

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