Mary Chandler (1687-1745)

An independent woman, milliner and poet. Here from Ellen and Jim Have A Blog, Too, a snippet of her poem “A True Tale” of receiving an offer of marriage from one who “thought to�ve found my person more amiss.” Mary had some kind of deformity, which may be why she became an independent businesswoman, but apparently was not why she remained one:

Much more, he spake, but I have half forgot:
I went to bed, but could not sleep a jot.
A thing so unexpected, and so new!
Of so great consequence�So generous too!
I own it made me pause for half that night:
Then waked, and soon recovered from my fright;
Resolved, and put an end to the affair:
So great a change, thus late, I could not bear;
And answered thus: �No, good Sir, for my life,
I cannot now obey, nor be a wife.
At fifty-four, when hoary age has shed
Its winter�s snow, and whitened o�er my head,
Love is a language foreign to my tongue:
I could have learned it once, when I was young,
But now quite other things my wish employs:
Peace, liberty, and sun, to gild my days.

Read more of Mary’s poetry and a bio at Ellen and Jim Have A Blog, Too.

I was somewhat delighted to find an 18th C poet named Mary Chandler. My sister-in-law of fifty years is named Mary Chandler and she is just about this feisty.