Such are the fears that fill my breast,
That ne'er will leave my heart at rest:
Such the sad burthen of my story.'-

'Then 'twill, sweet Girl, be DEATH and
GLORY!'

THE MAIDEN LADIES

WONDERS will never cease, 'tis said,
And wond'ring is an ancient trade.
But it turn'd out one Winter's night,
It was, indeed, a curious sight,

Round a warm fire, in that cold weather,
That ten OLD MAIDS had got together:
At least, so far they had miscarried,
Not one of them had e'er been married.
It would be needless to relate,
What whimsical, controuling fate,
Had kept them in this awkward state.
But so it was, and all the Graces
Of vet'ran age had mark'd their faces.
But though they long had ceas'd to charm,
They still could flourish an alarm,

With that same power which does not fail,
While Life can furnish out the tale;
That instrument so nicely hung

In female form, yclep'd a Tongue.

-Miss Stately open'd the Divan, And thus the conversation ran, Upon that Animal call'd Man.

'I think that Nature never gave The right he boasts of-to enslave The Sex, to whom this title's givenThe last and fairest work of Heaven. Yet, from the cradle's wimp'ring hour, Till Fate deprives him of his power, He claims an arbitrary sway, Which woman lives but to obey. And if a female should inherit

A just and a becoming spirit;

If by her sound, superior sense,
She scoffs at his omnipotence,

The men exclaim, how fierce and bold!

O what a termagant and scold!

While the good husband who thinks fit, As it becomes him, to submit,

And is, at all times, kind and meek,

Is stigmatis'd, a Jerry Sneak.
'—I have attain'd, as it appears,

The rev'rend age of threescore years,
And all that time it is my pride,

I never wish'd to be a bride: