[Sir, Once More to your Indulgent Ear]

Sir,

Once more to your indulgent ear

Your Girls their humble suit prefer.

The following favour they solicit:

A certain house where oft they visit

(Which here to name is needless quite)

They think is plac’d too much in sight,

And rather would unnotic’d go

When they retire to read, or so;

And therefore, Sir, most humbly crave

For your authority and leave

To have the aforesaid structure mov’d )

A little more from public view. )

If this petition is approv’d, )

Their grateful thanks will be your due. )

Text: STE 3/3/1, p. 60. Steele Collection, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford; this poem first published in Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, vol. 2 (ed. Julia B. Griffin), p. 158.