And the wife clinks tea-things under,

And her cousin, he stirs his cup,

Asks, "Who was the lady, I wonder?"

"'T is a daub John bought at a sale,"

Quoth the wife,—looks black as thunder.

"What a shade beneath her nose!

Snuff-taking, I suppose,"—

Adds the cousin, while John's corns ail.

Or else, there 's no wife in the case,

But the portrait 's queen of the place,