Great as it is, if man be not a fool;
They’re out of place, when they assume the sway,
But feel it safe and easy to obey.
Queens they have been, when men supply the means—
But Heaven defend us from domestic queens!
Now hear me, Richard; fairly I relate,
The thrice devoted wife’s and widow’s fate;
And you shall own, for I will fairly show,
That men their misery to supineness owe,
And that they could not of their fate complain,