Lest she be sent to bridewell; bankrupts made, To save their fortunes, bawds leave off their trade, Which first had left off them; to Wellclose Square Fine, fresh, young strumpets (for Dodd[307] preaches there) Throng for subsistence; pimps no longer thrive, And pensions only keep L---- alive. Where is the mother, who thinks all her pain, And all her jeopardy of travail, gain 580 When a man-child is born; thinks every prayer Paid to the full, and answer'd in an heir? Short-sighted woman! little doth she know What streams of sorrow from that source may flow: Little suspect, while she surveys her boy, Her young Narcissus, with an eye of joy Too full for continence, that Fate could give Her darling as a curse; that she may live, Ere sixteen winters their short course have run, In agonies of soul, to curse that son. 590 Pray then for daughters, ye wise mothers, pray; They shall reward your love, nor make ye gray Before your time with sorrow; they shall give Ages of peace, and comfort; whilst ye live Make life most truly worth your care, and save, In spite of death, your memories from the grave. That sense with more than manly vigour fraught, That fortitude of soul, that stretch of thought, That genius, great beyond the narrow bound Of earth's low walk, that judgment perfect found 600 When wanted most, that purity of taste, Which critics mention by the name of chaste; Adorn'd with elegance, that easy flow Of ready wit, which never made a foe; That face, that form, that dignity, that ease, Those powers of pleasing, with that will to please, By which Lepel,[308] when in her youthful days, E'en from the currish Pope extorted praise, We see, transmitted, in her daughter shine, And view a new Lepel in Caroline.[309] 610 Is a son born into this world of woe? In never-ceasing streams let sorrow flow; Be from that hour the house with sables hung, Let lamentations dwell upon thy tongue; E'en from the moment that he first began To wail and whine, let him not see a man; Lock, lock him up, far from the public eye; Give him no opportunity to buy, Or to be bought; B----, though rich, was sold, And gave his body up to shame for gold. 620 Let it be bruited all about the town, That he is coarse, indelicate, and brown, An antidote to lust; his face deep scarr'd With the small-pox, his body maim'd and marr'd; Ate up with the king's evil, and his blood Tainted throughout, a thick and putrid flood, Where dwells Corruption, making him all o'er, From head to foot, a rank and running sore. Shouldst thou report him, as by Nature made, He is undone, and by thy praise betray'd; 630 Give him out fair, lechers, in number more, More brutal and more fierce, than throng'd the door Of Lot in Sodom, shall to thine repair, And force a passage, though a God is there. Let him not have one servant that is male;