And hear the whispers of adoring praise.
Your female friends, though gayest of the gay,
Shall see you happy, and shall, sighing, say,
While smother’d envy rises in the breast, -
‘Oh! that we lived so beauteous and so blest!’
“Come, then, my mistress, and my wife; for she
Who trusts my honour is the wife for me;
Your slave, your husband, and your friend employ
In search of pleasures we may both enjoy.”
To this the Damsel, meekly firm, replied: