106
Tales.
The nymph had qualms, her cheeks were pale,
Which others thought th' effects of zeal:
But she, poor she! began to doubt
(Best knowing what she 'ad been about)
The marriage earnest-penny lay 80
And burnt her pocket, as we say.
She now invokes, to ease her soul,
The dagger and the poison'd bowl;
And, self-condemn'd for breach of vow,
To lose her life and honour too, 85
Talk'd in as tragical a strain as
Your craz'd Monimias and Roxanas.
But as she in her cell lay sighing,
Distracted, weeping, drooping, dying,
The fiend (who never wants address 90
To succour damsels in distress)
Appearing, told her he perceiv'd
The fatal cause for which she griev'd,
But promis'd her en cavalier
She should be freed from all her fear, 95
And with her Thyrsis lead a life
Devoid of all domestic strife,
If she would sign a certain scrawl—
Aye, that she would, if that was all.
She sign'd, and he engag'd to do 100
Whate'er she pleas'd to set him to.
The critics must excuse me now;
They both were freed, no matter how:
Which others thought th' effects of zeal:
But she, poor she! began to doubt
(Best knowing what she 'ad been about)
The marriage earnest-penny lay 80
And burnt her pocket, as we say.
She now invokes, to ease her soul,
The dagger and the poison'd bowl;
And, self-condemn'd for breach of vow,
To lose her life and honour too, 85
Talk'd in as tragical a strain as
Your craz'd Monimias and Roxanas.
But as she in her cell lay sighing,
Distracted, weeping, drooping, dying,
The fiend (who never wants address 90
To succour damsels in distress)
Appearing, told her he perceiv'd
The fatal cause for which she griev'd,
But promis'd her en cavalier
She should be freed from all her fear, 95
And with her Thyrsis lead a life
Devoid of all domestic strife,
If she would sign a certain scrawl—
Aye, that she would, if that was all.
She sign'd, and he engag'd to do 100
Whate'er she pleas'd to set him to.
The critics must excuse me now;
They both were freed, no matter how:
