Volume 5 — A SONG.
Reading edition
[Listen]
MARRIAGE it seems is for Better for Worse, Some count it a Blessing and others a Curse; The Cuckolds are Blest if the Proverb prove true, And then there’s no doubt but in Heav’n there’s enough: Of honest rich Rogues who ne’er had got there, If their Wives had not sent them thro’ trembling and fear. Some Women are Honest, tho’ rare in a Wife, Yet with Scolding and Brawling they’ll shorten your Life, You ne’er can enjoy your Bottle and Friend; But your Wife like an Imp, is at your Elbow’s end: Crying fie, fie you Sot, come, come, come, come, So these are Unhappy abroad and at home. We find the Batchelor liveth best, Tho’ Drunk or Sober he takes his rest; He never is troubl’d with Scolding or Strife, ’Tis the best can be said of a very good Wife: But merrily Day and Night does spend, Enjoying his Mistress, Bottle, and Friend. A Woman out-wits us, do what we can, She’ll make a Fool of ev’ry Wise Man; Old Mother Eve did the Serpent obey, And has taught all her Sex that damnable way: Of Cheating and Couzening all Mankind, ’Twere better if Adam had still been Blind. The poor Man that Marries he thinks he does well, I pity’s Condition, for sure he’s in Hell; The Fool is a Sotting and spends all he gets, The Child is a Bawling, the Wife daily Frets: That Marriage is pleasant we all must agree, Consider it well, there’s none happier can be.
