Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/288
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The WIFE of BATH.
Cry wives are false, and ev'ry woman evil,
And give up all that's female to the devil.
If poor (you say) she drains her husband's purse;
If rich, she keeps her Priest, or something worse;
If highly born, intolerably vain;
Vapours and pride by turns possess her brain:
Now gaily mad, now sourly splenatic,
Freakish when well, and fretful when she's sick.
If fair, then chaste she cannot long abide,
By pressing youth attack'd on ev'ry side.
If foul, her wealth the lusty lover lures,
Or else her wit some fool-gallant procures,
Or else she dances with becoming grace,
Or shape excuses the defects of face.
There swims no goose so grey, but, soon or late,
She finds some honest gander for her mate.
Horses (thou say'st) and asses men may try,
And ring suspected vessels e're they buy:
But wives, a random choice, untry'd they take,
They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake;
And give up all that's female to the devil.
If poor (you say) she drains her husband's purse;
If rich, she keeps her Priest, or something worse;
If highly born, intolerably vain;
Vapours and pride by turns possess her brain:
Now gaily mad, now sourly splenatic,
Freakish when well, and fretful when she's sick.
If fair, then chaste she cannot long abide,
By pressing youth attack'd on ev'ry side.
If foul, her wealth the lusty lover lures,
Or else her wit some fool-gallant procures,
Or else she dances with becoming grace,
Or shape excuses the defects of face.
There swims no goose so grey, but, soon or late,
She finds some honest gander for her mate.
Horses (thou say'st) and asses men may try,
And ring suspected vessels e're they buy:
But wives, a random choice, untry'd they take,
They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake;
Then,