For surely knowledge should not odious grow,
Nor ladies be despised for what they know;
Truth, to no sex confined, her friends invites,
And woman, long restrain’d, demands her rights.
Nor should a light and odious name be thrown
On the fair dame who makes that knowledge known—
Who bravely dares the world’s sarcastic sneer,
And what she is, is willing to appear.
“And what she is not!” peevish man replies, 20
His envy owning what his pride denies.