HERE liv'd in Lombardy, as Authors write,
In days of old, a wife and worthy Knight;
Of gentle manners, as of generous race,
Bleft with much fenfe, more riches, and fome
Yet, led aftray by Venus' foft delights,
He scarce could rule fome idle appetites:
For long ago, let Priefts fay what they could,
Weak finful laymen were but flesh and blood.
But in due time, when fixty years were o'er,
He vow'd to lead this vicious life no more:
Whether pure holiness infpir'd his mind,
Or dotage turn'd his brain, is hard to find;
But his high courage prick'd him forth to wed,
And try the pleasures of a lawful bed.
This was his nightly dream, his daily care,
And to the heavenly powers his conftant prayer,
Once ere he dy'd, to tafte 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 chufe 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 laft,
To hope the future, or efteem 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,
Secure at once himself and heaven to please;
And pafs his inoffenfive hours away,
In blifs all night, and innocence all day:
Though 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 libel'd all the fair.
With matchlefs impudence they style a wife
The dear-bought curfe, and lawful plague of life;
A bofom-ferpent, a domestic evil,
A night invafion, and a mid-day devil.
Let not the wife thefe flanderous words regard,
But curfe the bones of every lying bard.
All other goods by fortune's hand are given,
A wife is the peculiar gift of heaven.
Vain fortune's favours, never at a stay,
Like empty fhadows, pafs, and glide away;
One folid comfort, our eternal wife,
Abundantly fupplies us all our life:
This blefling lafts (if those who try fay true)
As long as heart can wish-and longer too.
Our grandfire Adam, ere of Eve poffefs'd,
Alone, and ev'n in Paradise unblefs'd,
With mournful looks the blissful fcenes furvey'd,
And wander'd in the folitary fhade:
The Maker faw, took pity, and bestow'd
Woman, the laft, the best referv'd of God.
A Wife! ah, gentle deities, can he
That has a wife, e'er feel adverfity?
Would men but follow what the fex 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:
Heroic Judith, as old Hebrews fhow,
Preferv'd the Jews, and flew th' Affyrian foe:
At Hefter's fuit, the perfecuting fword
Was fheath'd, and Ifrael liv'd to blefs 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 Chriftian comfort, call'd a wife.
VOL. XLV.
His friends were fummon'd on a point fo nice,
To pass their judgment, and to give advice;
But fix'd before, and well refolv'd was he;
(As men that afk advice are wont to be.)
My friends, he cry'd (and caft a mournful look 85
Around the room, and figh'd before he spoke):
Beneath the weight of threefcore years I bend,
And worn with cares, and haftening to my end;
How I have liv'd, alas! you know too well,
In worldly follies, which I blufh to tell;
But gracious heaven 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 fhould be done,
And many heads are wifer ftill than one;
Chufe you for me, who beft fhall be content
When my defire 's approv'd by your confent.
One caution yet is needful to be told,
To guide your choice; this wife muft not be old: 100
There goes a faying, and 'twas fhrewdly faid,
Old fish at table, but young flesh in bed.
My foul abhors the taftelefs, dry embrace
Of a stale 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 mould them as we please.
Conceive me, Sirs, nor take my sense amifs;
'Tis what concerns my foul's eternal bliss:
Since if I found no pleasure in my spouse,
As flesh is frail, and who (God help me) knows?
Then should I live in lewd 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 blefs the powers above,
And not for pleasure only, or for love.
Think not I doat; 'tis time to take a wife,
When vigorous blood forbids a chafter life :
Those that are bleft with ftore of grace divine,
May live like faints, by heaven's confent and mine.
And fince I speak of wedlock, let me say,
(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 every part.
Think not my virtue loft, though time has shed.
These reverend honours on my hoary head;
Thus trees are crown'd with bloffoms white as fnow,
The vital fap then rifing from below:
Old as I am, my lufty limbs appear
Like winter greens, that flourish all the year.
Now, Sirs, you know to what I ftand inclin'd,
Let
every friend with freedom speak his mind.
He faid; the reft in different parts divide;
The knotty point was urg'd on either fida:
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