The Wish, By a Young Lady

Laetitia Pilkington 1709 – 1750

I ask not wit, nor beauty do I crave,

Nor wealth, nor pompous titles wish to have;

But since, 'tis doomed through all degrees of life,

Whether a daughter, sister, or a wife;

That females should the stronger males obey,

And yield implicit to their lordly sway;

Since this, I say, is ev'ry woman's fate,

Give me a mind to suit my slavish state.