Eager he sought her, eagerly to shun.
He laugh’d at tears he caused himself to start,
And mock’d the sorrows of a breaking heart,
While she a sad and sighing slave remain’d,
And to the dregs the cup of sorrow drain’d. (O.M.)
Book XVII.
Variant of ll. 38–63:
“Would you believe it, Richard, that fair she
Has had three husbands? I repeat it, three!
True, she has years beyond your reckoning seen,