TALES.
THE WIDOW'S WILE.
A TALE.
Have you not seen (to state the case)
Two wasps lie struggling in a glass?
By the rich flavour of Tokay
Allur'd, about the brim they play;
They light, they murmur, then begin 10
To lick, and so at length slip in:
Embracing close the couple lies,
Together dip, together rise;
You 'd swear they love, and yet they strive
Which shall be sunk, and which survive. 10
Such feign'd amours and real hate
Attend the matrimonial state,
When sacred vows are bought and sold,
And hearts are ty'd with threads of gold.
A nymph there was, who (’tis averr'd 15
By Fame) was born without a beard;
A certain sign, the learn'd declare,
That (guarded with uncommon care)
Her virtue might remain at ten
Impregnable to boys or men. 20
But from that era we'll proceed
To find her in a widow's weed,
Two wasps lie struggling in a glass?
By the rich flavour of Tokay
Allur'd, about the brim they play;
They light, they murmur, then begin 10
To lick, and so at length slip in:
Embracing close the couple lies,
Together dip, together rise;
You 'd swear they love, and yet they strive
Which shall be sunk, and which survive. 10
Such feign'd amours and real hate
Attend the matrimonial state,
When sacred vows are bought and sold,
And hearts are ty'd with threads of gold.
A nymph there was, who (’tis averr'd 15
By Fame) was born without a beard;
A certain sign, the learn'd declare,
That (guarded with uncommon care)
Her virtue might remain at ten
Impregnable to boys or men. 20
But from that era we'll proceed
To find her in a widow's weed,
