When we have shuffled off our single state

Must give us serious pause. There's the respect

That makes us Bachelors a numerous race.

For who would bear the dull unsocial hours

Spent by unmarried men, cheered by no smile

To sit like hermit at a lonely board

In silence? Who would bear the cruel gibes

With which the Bachelor is daily teased

When he himself might end such heart-felt griefs

By wedding some fair maid? Oh, who would live