This was his nightly dream, his daily care,

And to the heav'nly pow'rs his conftant pray'r,
Once, e'er he dy'd, to taste the blissful life
Of a kind husband and a loving wife.

These thoughts he fortify'd with reasons still,
(For none want reasons to confirm their will.)
Grave authors fay, and witty poets fing,
That honeft wedlock is a glorious thing:
But depth of judgment moft in him appears,
Who wifely weds in his maturer years.
Then let him chuse a damfel young and fair,
To blefs his age, and bring a worthy heir;
To footh his cares, and free from noise and ftrife
Conduct him gently to the verge of life.
Let finful batchelors their woes deplore,
Full well they merit all they feel, and more:
Unaw'd by precepts, human or divine,
Like birds and beafts, promifcuously they join:
Nor know to make the prefent bleffing last,
To hope the future, or esteem the past;
But vainly boast the joys they never try'd,
And find divulg'd the fecrets they would hide.
The marry'd man may bear his yoke with ease,

15

20

25

30

35

Secure at once himself and heav'n to please;
And pafs his inoffenfive hours away,

In blifs all night, and innocence all day:

40

Tho' fortune change, his conftant spouse remains,

Augments his joys, or mitigates his pains.

But what fo pure, which envious tongues will spare? Some wicked wits have libcll'd all the fair,

With matchlefs impudence they ftile a wife
The dear-bought curfe, and lawful plague of life;
A bofom-ferpent, a domeftic evil,

A night-invafion, and a mid-day-devil.
Let not the wife these fland'rous words regard,
But curfe the bones of ev'ry lying bard.

All other goods by fortune's hand are giv’n,
A Wife is the peculiar gift of heav'n:
Vain fortune's favours, never at a stay,
Like empty fhadows, pass, and glide away;
One folid comfort, our eternal wife,
Abundantly fupplies us all our life:
This bleffing lafts, (if those who try, say true)
As long as heart can wifh- -and longer too.
Our grandfire Adam, e'er of Eve possess'd,
Alone, and ev'n in Paradife unblefs'd,
With mournful looks the blissful fcenes furvey'd,
And wander'd in the folitary fhade:

45

50

55

бо

W

A Wife! ah gentle deities, can he

That has a wife, e'er feel adversity?

The Maker faw, took pity, and bestow'd
Woman, the laft, the best reserve of God.

65

Would men but follow what the sex advise,

All things would profper, all the world grow wife.
'Twas by Rebecca's aid that Jacob won
His father's bleffing from an elder fon:
Abufive Nabal ow'd his forfeit life
To the wife conduct of a prudent wife:

70

Heroic Judith, as old Hebrews fhow,

Preferv'd the Jews, and flew th' Affyrian foe:

At

At Hefter's fuit, the perfecuting fword

Was fheath'd, and Ifrael liv'd to bless the Lord.
These weighty motives, January the fage
Maturely ponder'd in his riper age;

And charm'd with virtuous joys, and sober life,
Would try that christian comfort, call'd a wife.
His friends were fummon'd on a point so nice,
To pass their judgment, and to give advice ;
But fix'd before, and well refolv'd was he;
(As men that ask advice are wont to be.)

My friends, he cry'd, (and caft a mournful look
Around the room, and figh'd before he spoke:)
Beneath the weight of threescore years I bend,
And worn with cares, am haft'ning to my end;
How I have liv'd, alas! you know too well,
In worldly follies, which I blush to tell;
But gracious heav'n has ope'd my eyes at last,
With due regret I view my vices paft,
And as the precept of the Church decrees,
Will take a wife, and live in holy ease.

But fince by counsel all things should be done,
And many heads are wiser still than one;
Chufe you for me, who best shall be content
When my defire's approv'd by your consent.

One caution yet is needful to be told,

To guide your choice; this wife must not be old:
There goes a faying, and 'twas fhrewdly faid,
Old fish at table, but young flesh in bed.
My foul abhors the taftlefs, dry embrace
Of a ftale virgin with a winter face;

In that cold feafon Love but treats his guest
With bean-ftraw, and tough forage at the best.
No crafty widows fhall approach my bed;
Thofe are too wife for batchelors to wed;
As fubtle clerks by many schools are made,
Twice-marry'd dames are mistreffes o' th' trade:
But
young and tender virgins, rul'd with ease,
We form like wax, and mold them as we please.
Conceive me, Sirs, nor take my sense amiss;

105

110

'Tis what concerns my foul's eternal blifs; Since if I found no pleasure in my spouse,

115

As fleth is frail, and who (God help me) knows?
Then fhould I live in leud adultery,

And fink downright to Satan when I die.
Or were I curs'd with an unfruitful bed,
The righteous end were loft, for which I wed;
To raise up feed to bless the pow'rs above,
And not for pleasure only, or for love.
Think not I doat; 'tis time to take a wife,
When vig'rous blood forbids a chaster life:
Those that are bleft with store of grace divine,
May live like faints, by heav'ns consent, and mine.
And fince I fpeak of wedlock, let me fay,
(As, thank my stars, in modeft truth I may)
My limbs are active, ftill I'm found at heart,
And a new vigour fprings in ev'ry part.
Think not my virtue loft, tho' time has fhed
These rev'rend honours on my hoary head;
Thus trees are crown'd with bloffoms white as fnow,
The vital fap then rifing from below:

120

125

130

Old

Old as I am, my lufty limbs appear
Like winter greens, that flourish all the year.
Now, Sirs, you know to what I stand inclin'd,
Let ev'ry friend with freedom speak his mind.
He faid; the rest in diff'rent parts divide,
The knotty point was urg'd on either fide;
Marriage, the theme on which they all declaim'd,
Some prais'd with wit, and fome with reafon blam'd.
Till, what with proofs, objections, and replies,
Each wondrous pofitive, and wondrous wife,
There fell between his brothers a debate,
Placebo this was call'd, and Justin that.

First to the Knight Placebo thus begun,
(Mild were his looks, and pleafing was his tone)
Such prudence, Sir, in all your words appears,
As plainly proves, experience dwells with years!
Yet you purfue fage Solomon's advice,

To work by counsel when affairs are nice:
But, with the Wifeman's leave, I must proteft,
So may my foul arrive at ease and rest,
As ftill I hold your own advice the best.

135

140

145

150

155

Sir, I have liv'd a Courtier all my days,

And ftudy'd men, their manners, and their ways;
And have obferv'd this useful maxim ftill,

To let my betters always have their will.

Nay, if my Lord affirm'd that black was white,

169

My word was this, Your honour's in the right.

Th' affuming Wit, who deems himself so wife
As his miftaken patron to advise,

Let