Whence some infer, whose conscience is too nice, No pious Chriftian ought to marry twice.

But let them read, and folve me, if they can, The words addrefs'd to the Samaritan : Five times in lawful wedlock fhe was join'd; And fure the certain ftint was ne'er defin'd. "Increase and multiply," was heaven's command,

And that's a text I clearly understand.

This too," Let men their fires and mothers leave,
And to their dearer wives for ever cleave."
More wives than one by Solomon were try'd,
Or else the wifeft of mankind's bely'd.
I've had myself full many a merry fit;
And truft in heaven, I may have many yet,
For when my transitory spouse, unkind,
Shall die, and leave his woeful wife behind,
I'll take the next good Christian 1 can find.
Paul, knowing one could never ferve our turn,
Declar'd 'twas better far to wed than burn.
There's danger in affembling fire and tow;
I grant them that, and what it means you know.
The fame apoftle too has elsewhere own'd,
No precept for virginity he found:
'Tis but a counfel-and we women still
Take which we like, the counfel, or our will.
I envy not their blifs, if he or the
Think fit to live in perfect chastity;
Pure let them be, and free from taint of vice;
1, for a few flight fpots, am not fo nice.
Heaven calls us different ways, on these bestows
One proper gift, another grants to those :
Not every man's obliged to fell his store,
And give up all his fubftance to the poor;
Such as are perfect may, I can't deny;
But, by your leaves, divines, fo am not I.

Full many a faint, fince first the world began,
Liv'd an unfpotted maid, in spite of man :
Let fuch (a-God's naine) with fine wheat be fed,
And let us honeft wives eat barley bread.
For me, I'll keep the poft affign'd by heaven,
And ufe the copious talent it has given :
Let my good spouse pay tribute, do me right,
And keep an equal reckoning every night.
His

proper body is not his, but mine; For fo faid Paul, and Paul's a found divine.

Know then, of those five husbands I have had,
Three were just tolerable, two were bad.
The three were old, but rich and fond befide,
And toil'd most piteously to please their bride:
But fince their wealth (the best they had) was
mine,

The reft, without much lofs, I could refign.
Sure to be lov'd, I took no pains to pleate,
Yet had more pleasure far than they had ease.
Prefents flow'd in apace: with fhowers of gold,
They made their court, like Jupiter of old.
If I but fmil'd, a sudden youth they found,
And a new palfy feiz'd them when I frown'd.
Ye fovereign wives! give ear and understand,
Thus fhall ye fpeak, and exercife command.
For never was it given to mortal man,
To lie fo boldly as we women can:
Forfwear the fact, though feen with both his
And call your maids to witnefs how he lies,

[eyes,

Hark, old Sir Paul! ('twas thus I us'd to fay)
Whence is our neighbour's wife fo rich and gay?
Treated, carefs'd, where'er fhe's pleas'd to roam-
I fit in tatters, and immur'd at home.
Why to her house doft thon fo oft repair?
Art thou fo amorous? and is the fo fair?
If I but fee a coufin or a friend,

Lord! how you fwell, and rage like any fiend!
But you reel home, a drunken beastly bear,
Then preach till midnight in your easy chair;
Cry, wives are falfe, and every woman evil,
And give up all that 's female to the devil.

If poor (you fay) the drains her husband's purse; If rich, fhe keeps her prieft, or fomething worse; If highly born, intolerably vain,

Vapours and pride by turns poffefs her brain,
Now gayly mad, now fourly fplenetic;
Freakish when well, and fretful when fhe's fick.
If fair, then chafte fhe cannot long abide,
By preffing youth attack'd on every side;
If foul, her wealth the lufty lover lures,
Or elfe her wit fome fool-gallant procures,
Or elfe the dances with becoming grace,
Or fhape excufes the defects of face.
There fwims no goose so grey, but, foon or late,
She finds fome honeft gander for her mate.

Horfes (thou fay'ft) and affes men may try,
And ring fufpected vessels ere they buy :
But wives, a random choice, untry'd they take;
They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake:
Then, nor till then, the veil's removed away,
And all the woman glares in open day.

You tell me, to preferve your wife's good grace,.
Your eyes must always languifh on my face,
Your tongue with constant flatteries feed my ear,
And tag each sentence with, My life my dear!
If. by ftrange chance, a modeft blush be rais'd,
Be fure my fine complexion must be prais'd.
My garments always must be new and gay,
And feafts ftill kept upon my wedding day.
Then must my nurse be pleas'd, and favourite
maid;

And endless treats, and endless vifi's paid,
To a long train of kindred, friends, allies.
All this thou fay'ft, and all thou fay'st are lies.

On Jenkin too you caft a squinting eye;
What! can your 'prentice raile your jealousy?
Fresh are his ruddy cheeks, his forehead fair,
And like the burnish'd gold his curling hair.
But clear thy wrinkled brow, and quit thy forrow,
I'd scorn your 'prentice, should you die to-mor

row.

Why are thy chefts all lock'd? on what defign? Are not thy worldly goods and treasure mine? Sir, I'm no fool; nor fhall you, by St. John, Have goods and body to yourself alone. One you fhall quit, in spite of both your eyesI heed not, I, the bolts, and locks and fpies. If you had wit, you'd fay," Go where you will, "Dear fpoufe, I credit not the tales they tell : "Take all the freedoms of a married life; "I know thee for a virtuous, faithful wife." Lord when you have enough, what need you

care

How merrily foever others fare?

Though all the day I give and take delight,
Doubt not, fufficient will be left at night.
"Tis but a juft and rational defire,
To light a taper at a neighbour's fire.

There's danger too you think, in rich array,
And none can long be modeft 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 fun;
She licks her fair round face, and frifks abroad,
To fhew her fur, and to be catterwaw'd. -

Lo thus, my friends, I wrought to my defires These three right ancient venerable fires. I told them, thus you fay, and thus you do, And told them falfe, but Jenkin fwore '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 them out of doors;

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 given us from our birth.
Heaven gave to women the peculiar grace,
To fpin, to weep, and cully human race.
By this nice conduct, and this prudent course,
By murmuring, wheedling, fratagem, and force,
I ftill prevail'd, and would be in the right,
Or curtain-lectures made a restless night.
If once my husband's arm was o'er my fide,
What! fo familiar with your spouse? I cry'd:
I 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 fulfome love for gain we can endure;
For gold we love the impotent and old,

And heave, and pant, and kifs, and cling, for gold,

Yet with embraces, curfes oft I mix'd,

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, Even though the Pope himself had fat at table. But when my point was gain'd, then thus I fpoke: Billy, my dear, how theepishly you look! "Approach, my fpoufe, and let me kifs thy cheek; "Thou fhouldit be always thus, refign'd and "meek! ..

"Of Job's great patience fince fo oft you preach, "Well fhould you practife, who fo well can teach, * 'Tis difficult to do, I must allow,

But I, my dearest, will inftruct you how. "Great is the bleffing of a prudent wife, Who puts a period to domestic strife.. One of us two muft rule, and one obey; And fince in man right reafon bears the sway, "Letthat frail thing,weak woman, have her way. "The wives of all my family have rul'd *Their tender huíbands, and their paflions cool'd.

"Fy, 'tis unmanly thus to figh and groan;lone?

"What! would you have me to yourself a

Why take me, love! take all and every part! "Here's your revenge! you love it at your heart. "Would I vouchsafe to fell what nature gave, "You little think what cuftom I could have, "But fee! I'm all your own-nay hold-for "shame; [blame." "What means my dear-indeed-you are to Thus with my first three lords I past my life; A very woman, and a very wife. What fums from these old spouses I could raise, Frocur'd young hufbands in my riper days Though paft my bloom, not yet decay'd was I, Wantou and wild, and chatter'd like a pie. In country dances ftill I bore the bell, And fung as fweet as evening Philomel. To clear my quailpipe, and refresh my soul, Full oft I drain'd the spicy nut brown bowl; Rich lufcious wines, that youthful blood improve, And warm the fwelling veins to feats of love: For 'tis as fure, as cold engenders hail, A liquorish mouth must have a lecherous tail Wine lets no lover unrewarded go, As all true gamefters by experience know.

But oh, good gods! whene'er a thought I caft On all the joys of youth and beauty past, To find in pleasures I have had my part, Still warms me to the bottom of my heart. 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'n to make my market of the bran.

My fourth dear fpoufe was not exceeding true;
He kept, 'twas thought, a private mifs or two;
But all that fcore I paid-as how? you'll fay,
Not with my body, in a filthy way:

But I fo drefs'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 frantic jealousy.
His foul, I hope, enjoys eternal glory,
For here on earth I was his purgatory.
Oft, when his fhoe the most severely wrung,
He put on carelefs airs, and fat and fung.
How fore I gall'd him, only heaven could know.
And he that felt, and I that caus'd the woe.
He dy'd, when laft from pilgrimage I came,
With other goflips, from Jerufalem;
And now lies buried underneath a rood,
Fair to be feen, and rear'd of honett wood:
A tomb indeed, with fewer fculptures grac'd
Than that Maufolus 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 bleft the good man's foul, I fay no more.

Now for my fifth lov'd lord, the last and best;
(Kind heaven afford him everlasting reft!)
Full hearty was his love, and I can show
The tokens on my ribs in black and blue;
Yet, with a knack, my heart he could have won,
While yet the fmart was fhooting in the bone.
How quaint an appetite in women reigns!
Free gifts we fcorn, and love what cofts us painą

Let men avoid us, and on them we leap;
A glutted market makes provifion cheap.

In pure good will I took this jovial spark,
Of Oxford he, a most egregious clerk.
He boarded with a widow in the town,
A trufty goffip, one dame Allifon.
Full well the fecrets of my foul fhe knew,
Better than e'er our parish-priest could do.
To her I told whatever could befall:
Had but my husband piss'd against a wall,
Or done a thing that might have coft his life,
She-and my niece-and one more worthy wife,
Had known it all; what most he would conceal,
To thefe I made no fcruple to reveal.

Oft has he blush'd from ear to ear for fhame,
That e'er he told a fecret to his dame."

It fo befel, in holy time of Lent,
That oft a day I to this goflip went

(My husband, thank my stars, was out of town);
From house to house we rambled up and down,
This clerk, myfelf, and my good neighbour Alfe,
To fee, be feen, to tell, and gather tales.
Vifits to every church we daily paid,
And march'd in every holy mafquerade,
The ftations duly and the vigils kept;
Not much we fafted, but fearce ever flept.
At fermons too I fhone in fcarlet gay:
The wafting moths ne'er fpoil'd my best array;
The caufe was this, I wore it every day.
'Twas when fresh May her early bloffom yields,
This clerk and I were walking in the fields,
We grew fo intimate, I can't tell how,

I pawn'd my honour, and engag'd my vow,
If e'er I laid my husband in his urn,
That he, and only he, should serve my turn.
We straight truck hands, the bargain was agreed;
I ftill have fhifts against a time of need:
The moufe that always trufts to one poor hole,
Can never be a mouse of any foul.

I vow'd, I fcarce could fleep fince first I knew him,

}

And durst be fworn he had bewitch'd me to him;
If e'er I flept, I dream'd of him alone,
And dreanis foretel, as learned men have shown.
All this I faid; but dreams, firs, I had none;
I follow'd but my crafty crony's lore,
Who bid me tell this lie-and twenty more.
Thus day by day, and month by month we paft;
It pleas'd the Lord to take my spouse at last.
I tore my gown, I foil'd my locks with duft,
And beat my breafts, as wretched widows-muft.
Before my face my handkerchief I fpread,
To hide the flood of tears I did not fhed.
The good man's coffin to the church was borne ;
Around, the neighbours, and my clerk too, mourn.
But as he march'd, good gods! he fhow'd a pair
Of legs and feet, so clean, so strong, so fair!
Of twenty winters age he feem'd to be;
1 (to fay truth) was twenty more than he ;
But vigorous ftill, a lively buxom dame;
And had a wonderous gift to quench a flame.
A conjuror once, that deeply could divine,
Affer'd me, Mars in Taurus was my fign.
As the stars order'd, fuch my life has been:
Alas, alas, that ever love was fin!

Fair Venus gave me fire and fprightly grace,
And Mars affurance and a dauntless face.
By virtue of this powerful conftellation,

I follow'd always my own inclination.

But to my tale: A month fcarce pafs'd away, With dance and fong we kept the nuptial day. All I poffefs'd I gave to his command,

My goods and chattels, money, house, and land;
But oft repented, and repent it ftill;'

He prov'd a rebel to my foverign will:
Nay once, by heaven, he ftruck me on the face;
Hear but the fact, and judge yourselves the cafe.
Stubborn as any lionefs was 1;

And knew full well to raife my voice on high;
As true a rambier as I was before,

And would be fo, in fpite of all he swore.
He against this right fagely would advise,
And old examples fet before my eyes,
Tell how the Roman matrons led their life,
Of Gracchus' mother, and Duilius' wife;
And close the fermon, as befeem'd his wit,
With fome grave sentence out of holy writ,
Oft would he fay, who builds his houfe on fands,
Pricks his blind horfe across the fallow lands;
Or lets his wife abroad with pilgrims roam,
Deferves a fool's cap, and long ears at home.
All this avail'd not; for whoe'er he be
That tells my faults, I hate him mortally;
And fo do numbers more, I boldly fay,
Men, women, clergy, regular, and lay.

My fpoufe (who was, you know, to learning bred)

A certain treatife oft at evening read,
Where divers authors (whom the devil confound
For all their lies), were in one volume hound.
Valerius, whole: and of St. Jerome, part;
Chryfippus and Tertullian, Ovid's art,
Solomon's Proverbs, Eloifa's loves;

And many more than fure the church approves.
More legends were there here of wicked wives,
Than good in all the Bible and faints lives.
Who drew the lion vanquish'd? 'Twas a man.
But could we women write as fcholars can, [ness,
Men fhould ftand mark'd with far more wicked-
Than all the fons of Adam could redress.
Love feldom haunts the breaft where learning lies,
And Venus fets e'er Mercury can rise.
Those play the scholars, who can't play the men,
And ufe that weapon which they have, their pen;
When old, and patt the relifh of delight,
Then down they fit, and in their dotage write,
That not one woman keeps her marriage vow.
(This by the way, but to my purpose now).

It chanc'd my husband, on a winters night,
Read in his book, aloud, with strange delight,
How the first female (as the Scriptures fhow)
Brought her own spouse, and all his race, to woc.
How Samfon fell; and he whom Dejanire
Wrapp'd in th' envenon'd fhirt, and fet on fire.
How curs'd Eryphile her lord betray'd,
And the dire ambush Clytemnestra laid.
But what moft pleas'd him was the Cretan dame,
And husband-bull-oh, monftrous! fie for shame!
He had by heart the whole detail of woc
Xantippe made her good man undergo;

How oft fhe fcolded in a day, he knew,
How many pifs-pots on the fage fhe threw;
Who took it patiently, and wip'd his head ;
Rain follows thunder," that was all he said.
He read, how Arius to his friend complain'd,
A fatal tree was growing in his land,
On which three wives fucceffively had twin'd
A fliding noofe, and waver'd in the wind.
Where grows this plant (reply'd the friend), oh,
where?

For better fruit did never orchard bear.
Give me fome flip of this most blissful tree,
And in my garden planted fhall it be.

[prove,

Then how two wives their lords' deftruction Through hatred one, and one through too much love; That for her husband mix'd a poisonous draught, And this for luft an amorous philtre bought : 'The nimble juice soon seiz’d his giddy head, Frantic at night, and in the morning dead.

How fome with fwords their fleeping lords have flain,

And fome have hammer'd nails into their brain, And fome have drench'd them with a deadly potion; All this he read, and read with great devotion.

Long time I heard, and fwell'd, and blufh'd, and frown'd:

But when no end of these vile tales I found,
When ftill he read, and laugh'd, and read again,
And half the night was thus confum'd in vain;
Provok'd to vengeance, three large leaves I tore,
And with one buffet fell'd him on the floor.
With that my husband in à fury rose,
And down he fettled me with hearty blows.
I groan'd, and lay extended on my fide;
Oh! thou haft flain me for my wealth (I cry'd),
Yet I forgive thee-take my laft embrace-
He wept, kind foul: and stoop'd to kiss my face,
I took him fuch a box as turn'd him blue.
Then figh'd and cry'd, adieu, my dear, adieu!
But after many a hearty struggle past,
I condefcended to be pleas'd at last.
Soon as he faid, my mistress and my wife,
Do what you lift, the term of all your life;
I took to heart the merits of the cause,
And food content to rule by wholefome laws;
Receiv'd the reins of abfolute command,
With all the government of house and land,
And empire o'er his tongue, and o'er his hand.
As for the volume that revil'd the dames,
'Twas torn to fragments, and condem'd to flames.

Now heaven on all my husbands gone bestow
Pleasures above, for tortures felt below:
That reft they wish'd for, grant them in the grave,
And bless those souls my conduct help'd to fave!

THE FIRST BOOK OF

STATIUS HIS THEBAIS.

Tranflated in the Year 1703.

THE ARGUMENT.

put out his own eyes, and refigned the realm te his fons, Eteocles and Polynices. Being neglect ed by them, he makes his prayer to the fury Tifiphone, to fow debate betwixt the brothers. They agree at laft to reign fingly, each a year by turns, and the first lot is obtained by Eteocles. Jupiter, in a council of the gods, declares his refolution of punishing the Thebans, and Argives alfo, by means of a marriage betwist Polynices and one of the daughters of Adraftus King of Argos. Juno opposes, but to no effect; and Mercury is fent on a meffage to the Shades, to the ghost of Laïus, who is to appear to Eteocles, and provoke him to break the agreement: Polynices in the mean time departs from Thebes by night, is overtaken by a storm, and arrives at Argos; where he meets with Tydeus, who had fled from Calydon, having killed his brother. Adraflus entertains them, having received an oracle from Apollo, that his daughters should be married to a boar and a lion, which he underftands to be meant of these strangers, by whom the hides of those beafts were worn, and who arrived at the time when he kept an annual feast in honour of that god. The rife of this folemnity he relates to his guests, the loves of Phœbus and Psamathe, and the story of Chorœbus. He inquires, and is made acquainted with their defcent and quality. The facrifice is renewed, and the book concludes with a hymn to Apollo. [The tranflator hopes he need not apologise for his choice of this piece, which was made almost in his childhood; but, finding the verfion better than he expected, he gave it some correction a few years afterwards.]

FRATERNAL rage, the guilty Thebes alarms,
The alternate reign deftroy'd by impious arms
Demand our fong; a facred fury fires
My ravish'd breaft, and all the mufe inspires.
O, goddefs, fay, fhall I deduce my rhymes
From the dire nation in its early times,
Europa's rape, Angenor's ftern decree,
And Cadmus fearching round the spacious fea?
How with the ferpent's teeth he fow'd the foil,
And reap'd an iron harvest of his toil?
Or how from joining ftones the city sprung,
While to his harp divine Amphion fung?
Or fhall I Juno's hate to Thebes refound,
Whole fatal rage th' unhappy monarch found?
The fire against the son his arrows drew,
O'er the wide fields the furious mother flew,
And while her arms a fecond hope contain,
Sprung from the rocks, and plung'd into the main.
But wave whate'er to Cadmus may belong,
And fix, O, mufe! the barrier of thy song
At Oedipus-from his disasters trace
The long confufions of his guilty race:
Nor yet attempt to stretch thy bolder wing,
And mighty Cæfar's conquering eagles fing;
How twice he tam'd proud Ifter's rapid flood,
While Dacian mountains stream'd with barbarous
blood;

Twice taught the Rhine beneath his laws to roll,
And firetch'd his empire to the frozen pole :