Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/287
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The WIFE of BATH.
251
Presents flow'd in apace: with show'rs of gold,
They made their court, like Jupiter of old,
If I but smil'd, a sudden youth they found,
And a new palsy seiz'd them when I frown'd.
Ye sov'reign wives! give ear, and understand;
Thus shall ye speak, and exercise command.
For never was it giv'n to mortal man,
To lye so boldly as we women can.
Forswear the fact, tho' seen with both his eyes,
And call your maids to witness how he lies.
Hark old Sir Paul ('twas thus I us'd to say)
Whence is our neighbour's wife so rich and gay?
Treated, caress'd, where-e'er she's pleas'd to roam—
I sit in tatters, and immur'd at home!
Why to her house dost thou so oft repair?
Art thou so am'rous? and is she so fair?
If I but see a cousin or a friend,
Lord! how you swell, and rage like any fiend!
But you reel home, a drunken beastly bear,
Then preach till midnight in your easy chair;
They made their court, like Jupiter of old,
If I but smil'd, a sudden youth they found,
And a new palsy seiz'd them when I frown'd.
Ye sov'reign wives! give ear, and understand;
Thus shall ye speak, and exercise command.
For never was it giv'n to mortal man,
To lye so boldly as we women can.
Forswear the fact, tho' seen with both his eyes,
And call your maids to witness how he lies.
Hark old Sir Paul ('twas thus I us'd to say)
Whence is our neighbour's wife so rich and gay?
Treated, caress'd, where-e'er she's pleas'd to roam—
I sit in tatters, and immur'd at home!
Why to her house dost thou so oft repair?
Art thou so am'rous? and is she so fair?
If I but see a cousin or a friend,
Lord! how you swell, and rage like any fiend!
But you reel home, a drunken beastly bear,
Then preach till midnight in your easy chair;
Cry