Her strongest wish, the fortune to divide,

And part in peace, his avarice denied;

And thus it happen’d, as in all deceit,

The cheater found the evil of the cheat;

The Husband griev’d - nor was the Wife at rest;

Him she could vex, and he could her molest;

She could his passion into frenzy raise,

But, when the fire was kindled, fear’d the blaze;

As much they studied, so in time they found

The easiest way to give the deepest wound;