Then let me weigh them in two equal scales;[112]

In this scale put my virtue, that Tom Thumb.

Alas! Tom Thumb is heavier than my virtue.

But hold!—perhaps I may be left a widow:

This match prevented, then Tom Thumb is mine:

In that dear hope I will forget my pain.

So, when some wench to Tothill Bridewell's sent,

With beating hemp and flogging she's content;

She hopes in time to ease her present pain,

At length is free, and walks the streets again.