Henry Baker (1698–1774)

WOMAN! thoughtless, giddy creature;

Laughing, idle, flutt’ring thing;

Most fantastic work of Nature;

Still, like Fancy, on the wing.

‘Slave to every changing passion;

Loving, hating, in extreme;

Fond of every foolish fashion;

And, at best, a pleasing dream.

‘Lovely trifle, dear illusion,

Conquering weakness, wished-for pain;

Man’s chief glory and confusion;

Of all vanity, most vain.’

Thus deriding Beauty’s power,

Bevil called it all a cheat;

But, in less than half an hour,

Kneeled, and whined, at Celia’s feet.