For the sake of dear Molly Lepel.
In a bed you have seen banks of roses;
Would you know a more delicate smell,
Ask the fortunate man who reposes
On the bosom of Molly Lepel.
Or were I the King of Great Britain
To choose a minister well,
And support the throne that I sit on,
I’d have under me Molly Lepel.
Mary Bellenden rivalled Mary Lepel in loveliness. Gay writes of her in his Ballad of Damon and Cupid:—