Date: w. 1736, 1749
"Why should I drag along this life I hate, / Without one thought to mitigate the weight? / Whence this mysterious bearing to exist, / When every joy is lost, and every hope dismissed? / In chains and darkness wherefore should I stay, / And mourn in prison, while I keep the key?"
preview | full record— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)
Date: 1773
"But soon, alas! this holy calm is broke; / My soul submits to wear her wonted yoke; / With shackled pinions strives to soar in vain, / And mingles with the dross of earth again."
preview | full record— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)