This was his nightly dream, his daily care,
And to the heav'nly pow'rs his constant 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 say, and witty poets sing,
That honeft wedlock is a glorious thing:
But depth of judgment most in him appears,
Who wifely weds in his maturer years.
Then let him chuse a damsel young and fair,
To bless his age, and bring a worthy heir;
To footh his cares, and free from noise and strife
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, promiscuoufly they join:
Nor know to make the present blessing last,
To hope the future, or esteem the paft;
But vainly boaft 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,
Secure at once himself and heav'n to please;
And pafs his inoffenfive hours away,
In bliss all night, and innocence all day:
'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 libell'd all the fair,
With matchless impudence they stile a wife
The dear-bought curse, and lawful plague of life;
A bosom-ferpent, a domeftic evil,
A night-invasion, and a mid-day-devil.
Let not the wife these sland'rous words regard,
But curse 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 shadows, pass, and glide away;
One folid comfort, our eternal wife,
Abundantly supplies us all our life :
This blessing lafts, (if those who try, say true)
As long as heart can wish and longer too.
Our grandfire Adam, e'er of Eve possess'd,
Alone, and ev'n in Paradise unbless'd,
With mournful looks the blissful scenes survey'd,
And wander'd in the folitary shade:
The Maker saw, took pity, and bestow'd
Woman, the last, the best reserve of God.
A Wife! ah gentle deities, can he
That has a wife, e'er feel adversity?
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 blessing from an elder fon :
Abufive Nabal ow'd his forfeit life
To the wife conduct of a prudent wife:
Heroic Judith, as old Hebrews show,
Preferv'd the Jews, and flew th' Affyrian foe:
At Hefter's fuit, the perfecuting sword
Was sheath'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 summon'd on a point so nice,
To pass their judgment, and to give advice;
But fix'd before, and well resolv'd was he;
(As men that ask advice are wont to be.)
My friends, he cry'd, (and cast 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 since by counsel all things should be done,
And many heads are wiser still than one;
Chuse 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 shrewdly faid,
Old fish at table, but young flesh in bed.
My foul abhors the tastless, dry embrace
Of a ftale virgin with a winter face;
In that cold season Love but treats his guest
With bean-straw, and tough forage at the best.
No crafty widows shall approach my bed;
Those are too wise for batchelors to wed;
As fubtle clerks by many schools are made,
Twice-marry'd dames are mistresses 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;
'Tis what concerns my foul's eternal blifs;
Since if I found no pleasure in my spouse,
As flesh is frail, and who (God help me) knows?
Then should 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 blest with store of grace divine,
May live like faints, by heav'ns consent, and mine.
And fince I speak of wedlock, let me say, (As, thank my stars, in modest truth I may) My limbs are active, still I'm found at heart, And a new vigour springs in ev'ry part.
Think not my virtue lost, tho' time has fhed
These rev'rend honours on my hoary head;
Thus trees are crown'd with blossoms white as snow,
The vital fap then rifing from below :
Old as I am, my lusty 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 said; the rest in diffrent 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 some with reason blam'd.
Till, what with proofs, objections, and replies,
Each wondrous positive, 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 pleasing was his tone)
Such prudence, Sir, in all your words appears,
As plainly proves, experience dwells with years!
Yet you purfue sage Solomon's advice,
To work by counsel when affairs are nice:
But, with the Wiseman's leave, I must protest,
So may my foul arrive at ease and rest,
As still I hold your own advice the best.
Sir, I have liv'd a Courtier all my days,
And study'd men, their manners, and their ways;
And have obferv'd this useful maxim still,
To let my betters always have their will.
Nay, if my Lord affirm'd that black was white,
My word was this, Your honour's in the right.
Th' affuming Wit, who deems himself fo wife
As his mistaken patron to advise,
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