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- Herausgeber: Renard Press
- Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
- Sprache: Englisch
Eighteenth-century poetry was dominated by men of education and wealth, and bookcases sagged under the weight of volumes by Swift, Johnson and Pope. When Stephen Duck's The Thresher's Labour was published in 1730, however, it was a sensation – highlighting the plight of the working class in verse was hereto simply unthought of. Duck's poem came to the attention of Mary Collier, a washerwoman working in Hampshire, who was astounded to read Duck's dismissal of women as work-shy layabouts who indulged in 'noisy prattle', and she penned a stinging riposte, The Woman's Labour, which reframed Duck's relation of harvest-time toil from a woman's perspective. This edition of The Woman's Labour seeks to give a wider view of the conversation, and includes The Thresher's Labour, 'The Three Wise Sentences' (which Collier included in the first publication of her reply), 'An Epistolary Answer to an Exciseman Who Doubted Her Being the Author' and the elegy she wrote for Stephen Duck after he died.
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The Woman’s Labour
an epistle to
Mr STEPHEN DUCK
in answer to his late poem called
THE THRESHER’S LABOUR
by
mary collier
and published here with
THE THRESHER’S LABOUR
by
mr stephen duck
renard press
Renard Press Ltd
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London EC1V 2NX
United Kingdom
020 8050 2928
www.renardpress.com
The Woman’s Labour: An Epistle to Mr Stephen Duck first published in 1739
The Thresher’s Labour first published in 1730 (revised in 1736)
An Elegy Upon Stephen Duck and An Epistolary Answer to an Exciseman first published in Poems on Several Occasions in 1762
This edition first published by Renard Press Ltd in 2021
Edited text, Note on the Text, Notes and selection © Renard Press Ltd, 2022
Cover design by Will Dady
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contents
The Woman’s Labour
by Mary Collier
Advertisement
The Woman’s Labour
The Three Wise Sentences
The Thresher’s Labour
by Stephen Duck
An Elegy Upon Stephen Duck
by Mary Collier
An Epistolary Answer To an Exciseman Who Doubted Her Being the Author
by Mary Collier
Notes
the woman’s labour
an epistle to
Mr STEPHEN DUCK
in answer to his late poem called
THE THRESHER’S LABOUR
to which are added
The Three Wise Sentences
taken from
The First Book of Esdras
ch. iii and iv
by
mary collier
now a washerwoman at
petersfield in hampshire
advertisement
It is thought proper to assure the reader that the following verses are the real productions of the person to whom the title page ascribes them.
Tho’ she pretends not to the genius of Mr Duck, nor hopes to be taken notice of by the great, yet her friends are of opinion that the novelty of a washerwoman’s turning poetess will procure her some readers.
If all that follow the same employment would amuse themselves and one another during the tedious hours of their labour in this, or some other way as innocent, instead of tossing scandal to and fro, many reputations would remain unwounded, and the peace of families be less disturb’d.
I think it no reproach to the author, whose life is toilsome, and her wages inconsiderable, to confess honestly that the view of her putting a small sum of money in her pocket, as well as the reader’s entertainment, had its share of influence upon this publication. And she humbly hopes she shall not be absolutely disappointed; since, tho’ she is ready to own that her performance could by no means stand a critical examination, yet she flatters herself that, with all its faults and imperfections, the candid reader will judge it to be something considerably beyond the common capacity of those of her own rank and occupation.
mary collier
1739
the woman’s labour
Immortal Bard! thou fav’rite of the Nine!*
Enrich’d by peers, advanc’d by Caroline!*
Deign to look down on one that’s poor and low,
Remembering you yourself was lately so;
Accept these lines: Alas! what can you have
From her, who ever was, and’s still a slave?
No learning ever was bestow’d on me;
My life was always spent in drudgery:
And not alone; alas! with grief I find,
It is the portion of poor womankind.10
Oft have I thought, as on my bed I lay,
Eas’d from the tiresome labours of the day,
Our first extraction from a mass refin’d,
Could never be for slavery design’d;
Till time and custom by degrees destroy’d
That happy state our sex at first enjoy’d.
When men had us’d their utmost care and toil,
Their recompense was but a female smile;
When they by arts or arms were render’d great,
They laid their trophies at a woman’s feet;20
They, in those days, unto our sex did bring
Their hearts, their all, a free-will offering;
And as from us their being they derive,
They back again should all due homage give.
Jove,* once descending from the clouds, did drop
In show’rs of gold on lovely Danaë’s* lap;
The sweet-tongu’d poets, in those generous days,
Unto our shrine still offer’d up their lays:
But now, alas! that golden age is past;
We are the objects of your scorn at last.30
And you, great Duck, upon whose happy brow
The muses seem to fix the garland now,
In your late poem boldly did declare
Alcides’* labours can’t with yours compare;
And of your annual task* have much to say –
