That he would feel their force and melt away:
For why of nymphs such caution and such dread,
Unless he felt, and fear’d to be misled?
She came, she spake: he calmly heard her case,
And plainly told her ’twas a want of grace;
Bade her “such fancies and affections check,
And wear a thicker muslin on her neck.”
Abased, his human foes the combat fled,
And the stern clerk yet higher held his head.
They were indeed a weak, impatient set,