279. On a Certain Lady at Court

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk

I KNOW a 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 through 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!