THE WIDOW'S PRAYER!!

O THOU that giveft Sanction to Marriages, and comforteſt the Widow, prolific HYMEN! hear thy drooping Supplicant, Alas! thou knoweſt I have buried three Hufbands, all of whom I moſt tenderly eſteemed; but what avails the ſtrongeſt Affection; Fleſh is but Graſs, mowed down in an Inſtant, nor will any thing laſt for ever!!

O benignant HYMEN! hear me, though my Diftrefs is inutterable for the Lofs of my dear departed Partners in Felicity; yet teach me a becoming Philosophy on the Occafion, and if it ſhould pleafe thee to ſend a fourth Helpmate, let my Kindneſs towards him, if poſſible, be increaſed, and ſtrengthen my Fortitude and Refignation in caſe of his Demife.

Extend, I pray thee, the fame Mercies to a fifth or sixth, if I ſhould ſo often enter into the honourable State of Matrimony. And laſtly, in my old Age, ſhould it pleafe thy goodneſs to grant me a seventh, may we glide through the remnants of our Lives mutually loving and beloved.

May theſe my Precepts and Examples be followed by my Children's Children to the lateſt Poſtuerity, as nothing is more prieſe-worthy, than a wifh and endeavour to multiply the Number of our fellow Creatures, for the general good and benefit of Society.

Woodward Dal.

Etched by Rowlandson.

THE WIDOW'S PRAYER!!

O THOU that giveft Sanction to Marriages, and comforteft the Widow, prolific HYMEN! hear thy drooping Supplicant, Alas! thou knoweft I have buried three Husbands, all of whom I moft tenderly eſteemed; but what avails the ſtrongeſt Affection; Fleſh is but Graſs, mowed down in an Inſtant, nor will any thing laſt for ever!!

O benignant HYMEN! hear me, though my Diftrefls is inutterable for the Lofs of my dear departed Partners in Felicity; yet teach me a becoming Philofophy on the Occafion, and if it ſhould pleafe thee to ſend a fourth Helpmate, let my Kindneſs towards him, if poffible, be increafed, and ſtrengthen my Fortitude and Refignation in caſe of his Demife.

Extend, I pray thee, the fame Mercies to a fifth or fixth, if I ſhould ſo often enter into the honourable State of Matrimony. And laſtly, in my old Age, ſhould it pleafe thy goodneſs to grant me a ſeventh, may we glide through the remnants of our Lives mutually loving and beloved.

May theſe my Precepts and Examples be followed by my Children's Children to the lateſt Poffe­rity, as nothing is more prieſe-worthy, than a wifh and endeavour to multiply the Number of our fellow Creatures, for the general good and benefit of Society.

97L

50L

20L

(These charts are for monitor calibration only)

Yale Center for British Art, 2013