760 What ails my lord? the trembling dame reply'd; Did I for this the pow'r of magic prove? If this be struggling, by this holy light, 766 'Tis struggling with a vengeance (quoth the Knight;) 771 Guard me, good angels! cry'd the gentle May; Pray heav'n this magic work the proper way! Alas, my love! 'tis certain, could you see, You ne'er had used these killing words to me: So help me, Fates! as 'tis no perfect sight, But some faint glimm'ring of a doubtful light. 775 What I have said (quoth he) I must maintain, For by th' immortal Pow'rs, it seem'd too plain.... By all those Pow'rs, some frenzy seiz'd your mind, (Reply'd the dame:) are these the thanks I find? Wretch that I am, that e'er I was so kind! She said, a rising sigh express'd her woe; The ready tears apace began to flow, And as they fell, she wip'd from either eye 785 The drops; (for women, when they list, can cry.) 796 For, on my soul, amends shall soon be made : Your swimming eyes are drunk with sudden light, Strange phantoms dance around, and skim before your sight. Then, Sir, be cautious, nor too rashly deem; 805 Heav'n knows how seldom things are what they seem! Consult your reason, and you soon shall find 'Twas you were jealous, not your wife unkind : Jove ne'er spoke oracle more true than this; None judge so wrong as they who think amiss. 810 With that she leap'd into her lord's embrace, He hugg'd her close, and kiss'd her o'er and o'er, Thus ends our tale, whose moral next to make, 820 THE WIFE OF BATH. HER PROLOGUE. FROM CHAUCER. BEHOLD the woes of matrimonial life, And hear with rev'rence an experienc'd wife; To dear bought wisdom give the credit due, And think for once a woman tells you true. In all these trials I have borne a part; I was myself the scourge that caus'd the smart; For since fifteen, in triumph have I led Five captive husbands from the church to bed. Christ saw a wedding once, the Scripture says, And saw but one, 'tis thought, in all his days; Whence some infer, whose conscience is too nice, No pious Christian ought to marry twice. But let them read, and solve me, if they can, The words address'd to the Samaritan; 5 10 Five times in lawful wedlock she was join'd; 15 And sure the certain stint was ne'er defin'd. "Increase and multiply" was heav'n's command, And that's a text I clearly understand. This too, "Let men their sires and mothers leave, "And to their dearer wives for ever cleave." 20 25 More wives than one by Solomon were try'd, I grant them that; and what it means you know. 30 'Tis but a counsel....and we women still Take which we like, the counsel or our will. 35 I envy not their bliss, if he or she Think fit to live in perfect chastity: Pure let them be, and free from taint of vice; Heav'n calls us diff'rent ways; on these bestows 40 Not ev'ry man's oblig❜d to sell his store, 45 Full many a saint, since first the world began, Liv'd an unspotted maid, in spite of man: |