[HENRIETTA HOWARD, COUNTESS OF SUFFOLK] I KNOW the thing that's most uncommon (Envy, be silent, and attend); I know a reasonable woman, Handsome and witty, yet a friend. Not warped by passion, awed by rumour, Not grave through pride, or gay throug folly; An equal mixture of good humour, And sensible soft melancholy. 'Has she no faults then,' Envy says, 'Sir?' Yes, she has one, I must aver; When all the world conspires to praise her, The woman 's deaf, and does not hear! |