Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/374

 man's support I came at first from earth, But man perverts the purpose of my birth; Beneath his plastic hand new forms I take, And either sex my services partake; The flowing lawn in stricter folds I hold, And bind in chains unseen each swelling fold; The band beneath the double chin I grace, And formal plaits that edge the Quaker's face: By me great Bess, who used her maids to cuff, Shone in the dignity of full-quilled ruff.— Such is my whole;—but, parted and disjoined, New wonders in my varying form you'll find. What makes the cit look big with conscious worth; What bursts from pale surprise or boisterous mirth;