Female poems on several occasions written by Ephelia.

Maidenhead: Written at the Request of a Friend.

AT your Intreaty, I at last have writ This whimsey, that has nigh nonplust my wit: The Toy I've long enjoyed, if it may Be call'd t'Enjoy, a thing we wish away▪ But yet no more its Character can give, Than tell the Minutes that I have to Live: 'Tis a fantastick Ill, a loath'd Disease, That can no Sex, no Age, no Person please: Men strive to gain it, but the way they chuse T'obtain their Wish, that and the Wish doth lose;

Our Thoughts are still uneasie, till we know What 'tis, and why it is desired so: But th'first unhappy Knowledge that we boast, Is that we know, the valu'd Trifle's lost: Thou dull Companion of our active Years, That chill'st our warm Blood with thy frozen Fears: How is it likely thou shou'dst long endure, When Thought it self thy Ruin may procure? Thou short liv'd Tyrant, that Usurp'st a Sway O're Woman-kind, though none thy Pow'r obey, Except th' Ill-natur'd, Ugly, Peevish, Proud, And these indeed, thy Praises Sing aloud: But what's the Reason they Obey so well? Because they want the Power to Rebell: But I forget, or have my Subject lost: Alass! thy Being's Fancy at the most: Though much desired, 'tis but seldom Men Court the vain Blessing from a Womans Pen.