And therefore quite expected to her sight

None would present himself, unless the height

Of spotless honour and of gentle birth,

In fewer words—and everything polite.

She was of more than ordinary worth,

One of the noblest from Thanet's Isle to Solway Firth.

LXX.

But she had seen her fifty years of life,

So her young days for ever had swept by,

And back to days e'er she became a wife

She looked and for them breathed a lingering sigh,

(As women often do upon the sly.)

To tell the truth, my reader, I don't blame 'em

For thinking hardly of the marriage tie,

Most men's delight is not to love but tame 'em,

I know a score but 'twouldn't do to name 'em.[25]

[25]

LXXI.

No doubt she'd danced with all the proud and high

And revelled in the pomp of this vain earth,

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