On public or on private life,
Whether a single lot thou'dst choose,
Or fain would'st be a Guardsman's wife;
For who can rightly read the change
When, still'd the work-day traffic's din,
In best apparel, rich and strange,
Thou passest weekly to thy kin!
A silken gown, that bravely stands
Environing thy form, or no;
Stout gloves upon thy straining hands,