Or put thee off with promise and delay;

Thou might'st in justice and in conscience fly,

Denying her who taught thee to deny:

But, James, with me thou hadst an easier task,

Bonds and conditions I forbore to ask;

"I laid no traps for thee, no plots or plans,

Nor marriage named by licence or by banns;

Nor would I now the parson's aid employ,

310

But for this cause"—and up she held her boy.