broken off by him in bitterness at the Megarian flirt's "love for every one." Such, at least, seems to be the interpretation of four lines which may be closely rendered,—
'Twas clear and sweet to my imagining.
'Tis turbid now. Of it no more I drink,
But hang o'er other stream or river-brink."—(D.)
He was determined, it seems, to be more discursive in his admiration for the future. How that plan succeeded does not appear, though in several passages he arrogates to himself a degree of experience as regards women, and match-making, and the like. In the end we have his word for it, that he proved his own maxim,—
Nothing can equal goodness in a wife."— (F.)
But this could not have been till long after he had suffered rejection of his suit for a damsel whose parents preferred a worse man—i.e., a plebeian—and had carried on secret relations with her after her "mating to a clown." His own account of this is curious, as its opening shows that he vented his chagrin on himself:—
A meaner man has bought the right to bide.
Poor cheer for me! To sate her parents' thirst
She seeks the well, and sure her heart will burst
In weeping for my love and lot accurst.
I meet her, clasp her neck, her lips I kiss,
And they responsive gently murmur this:
