One you fhall quit, in fpite of both your eyes

I heed not, I, the bolts, the locks, the fpies.

If
you had wit, you'd fay, "Go where you will,
"Dear spouse, I credit not the tales they tell :
"Take all the freedoms of a married life;

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"I know thee for a virtuous, faithful wife." Lord! when you have enough, what need you care

How merrily foever others fare?

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Tho' all the day I give and take delight,

Doubt not, fufficient will be left at night. 'Tis but a just and rational defire,

To light a taper at a neighbour's fire.

There's danger too, you think, in rich array, 140
And none can long be modest that are gay:
The Cat, if you but finge her tabby skin,
The chimney keeps, and fits content within;
But once grown fleek, will from her corner run,
Sport with her tail, and wanton in the sun;
She licks her fair round face, and frisks abroad,
To fhow her furr, and to be catterwaw'd.

Lo thus, my friends, I wrought to my defires
These three right ancient venerable fires.
I told 'em, Thus you fay, and thus you do,

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150

And told 'em false, but Jenkin swore 'twas true.
I, like a dog, could bite as well as whine,
And first complain'd, whene'er the guilt was mine.
I tax'd them oft with wenching and amours,
When their weak legs fcarce dragg'd'em out of doors;

160

And fwore the rambles that I took by night,
Were all to fpy what damfels they bedight.
That colour brought me many hours of mirth;
For all this wit is giv'n us from our birth.
Heav'n gave to woman the peculiar grace
To fpin, to weep, and cully human race.
By this nice conduct, and this prudent courfe,
By murm'ring, wheedling, ftratagem, and force,"
I ftill prevail'd, and would be in the right,
Or curtain-lectures made a reftlefs night.envy
165
If once my husband's arm was o'er my fide," 20
What! fo familiar with your fpoufe? I cry'd:
Í levied first a tax upon his need ;

Then let him-'twas a nicety indeed!
Let all mankind this certain maxim hold,
Marry who will, our fex is to be fold.

With empty
hands no taffels you can lure,
But fulfom love for gain we can endure;

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For gold we love the impotent and old,

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And heave, and pant, and kiss, and cling, for gold.

Yet with embraces, curfes oft I mixt,'

Then kifs'd again, and chid and rail'd betwixt.
Well, I may make my will in peace, and die,
For not one word in man's arrears am I.
To drop a dear difpute I was unable,
Ev'n tho' the Pope himself had fat at table.

180

But when my point was gain'd, then thus I fpoke, À

Billy, my dear, how sheepishly you look?

"Approach, my spouse, and let me kifs thy cheek; "Thou shoul'dst be always thus, refign'd and meek+ “Of Job's s great patience since so oft you preach, 11 "Well fhould you practise, who fo well can teach, ""Tis difficult to do, I must allow, ́

"But I, my deareft, will inftruct you how. "Great is the bleffing of a prudent wife,

રડ

Who puts a peried to domestic strife.

One of us two muft rule, and one obeym s "And fince in man right reafon bears the way, "Let that frail thing, weak woman, have her way. "The wives of all my family have rul'd

195

"Their tender hufbands, and their paffions cool'd.

Fye, 'tis unmanly thus to figh and groan

"What! would

I

would you have me to yourself alone? "Why take me, Love! take all and every part !199 "Here's your Revenge! you love it at your heart.

Would I vouchfafe to fell what nature gave, br "You little think what cuftom I could have...

tom I could have

to

"But fee! I'm all your own nay hold for fhame! jxvied b "What means my dear-indeed-you are to blame."

Thus with my first three Lords I paft my life. 205

A very woman, and, a very wife.

What fums from these old fpoufes I could raife, I Procur'd young husbands in my riper days.

210

Tho' paft my bloom, not yet decay'd was I,
Wanton and wild, and chatter'd like a pye.
In country dances ftill I bore the bell,
And fung as sweet as ev'ning Philomel.
To clear my quail-pipe, and refresh my foul,
Full oft I drain'd the spicy nut-brown bowl;
Rich luscious wines, that youthful blood improve,215
And warm the swelling veins to feats of love:
For 'tis as fure, as cold ingenders hail,

A liqu'rish mouth must have a lech'rous tail;
Wine lets no lover unrewarded go,

As all true gamesters by experience know.

But oh, good Gods! whene'er a thought I cast
On all the joys of youth and beauty past,
To find in pleasures I have had my part,

heart.

Still warms me to the bottom of my
This wicked world was once my dear delight;
Now all my conquefts, all my charms good night!
The flour confum'd, the best that now I can,

Is e'en to make my market of the bran.

My fourth dear spouse was not exceeding true;

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225

He kept, 'twas thought, a private mifs or two: 230 But all that score I paid as how? you'll fay,

Not with my body, in a filthy way:

But I fo dress'd, and danc'd, and drank, and din'd;

And view'd a friend, with eyes fo very kind,

As ftung his heart, and made his marrow fry,
With burning rage, and frantick jealousy.
His foul, I hope, enjoys eternal glory,
For here on earth I was his purgatory.

Oft, when his shoe the most severely wrung,
He put on careless airs, and fat and fung.

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240

How fore I gall'd him, only heav'n could know,

And he that felt, and I that caus'd the woe.

He dy'd, when laft from pilgrimage I came,
With other goffips, from Jerusalem;

And now lies buried underneath a Rood,

245

Fair to be seen, and rear'd of honest wood.

A tomb indeed, with fewer sculptures grac❜d,
Than that Mausolus' pious widow plac'd,
Or where infhrin'd the great Darius lay;
But coft on graves is merely thrown away.
The pit fill'd up, with turf we cover'd o'er;
So bless the good man's foul, I fay no more.
Now for my fifth lov'd Lord, the last and best;
(Kind heav'n afford him everlasting reft)

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Full hearty was his love, and I can fhew,

255

The tokens on my ribs in black and blue;

Yet, with a knack, my heart he could have won,
While yet the smart was shooting in the bone.

How quaint an appetite in women reigns!

Free gifts we scorn, and love what cofts us pains : 260
Let men avoid us, and on them we leap;
A glutted market makes provision cheap.