And again:
Who's he that speaks with a Voice so sweet,
As the Shepherd pipes upon the Mountain,
When all his little Flock are gath'ring round him?
Neither she, nor any of the Actors of those Times, had any Tone in their speaking, (too much, lately, in Use.)—In Tragedy she was solemn and august—in Free Comedy alert, easy, and genteel—pleasant in her Face and Action; filling the Stage with Variety of Gesture.—She was Woman to Lady Shelton, of Norfolk, (my Godmother)—when Lord Rochester took her on the Stage; where for some Time, they could make nothing of her.—She could neither sing, nor dance, no, not in a Country-Dance.
Mrs. BRACEGIRDLE, that Diana of the Stage, hath many Places contending for her Birth—The most received Opinion is, that she was the Daughter of a Coachman, Coachmaker, or Letter-out of Coaches, in the Town of Northampton.—But I am inclinable to my Father's Opinion, (who had a great Value for her reported Virtue) that she was a distant Relation, and came out of Staffordshire, from about Walsal or Wolverhampton.—She had many Assailants on her Virtue, as Lord Lovelace, Mr. Congreve, the last of which had her Company most; but she ever resisted his vicious Attacks, and, yet, was always uneasy at his leaving her; on which Observation he made the following Song:
PIOUS Celinda goes to Pray'rs,
Whene'er I ask the Favour;
Yet, the tender Fool's in Tears,
When she believes I'll leave her.
Wou'd I were free from this Restraint,