Truth in Fiction Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker |
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| IX. | FABLE IX. The Bigamists:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE IX. The Bigamists:
Or, Divided Couples, Joint-Sufferers.
A Man who bury'd one beloved Wife,
And, for her sake, admir'd a Marry'd-Life;
To lose no Time, (whose precious Worth he knew)
Soon took another, and a Widow too.
She led him many weary Nights and Days,
And teaz'd him still with her first Husband's Praise:
While he, resolv'd to fit her in her kind,
As often call'd his former Wife to mind.
One Night it happen'd that, in moody Pet,
She carv'd a Capon, for their Supper set;
And, out of no Compassion to the Poor,
Serv'd with one half a Beggar at the Door;
And with it gave this Charge; Take this half Fowl,
And Pray sometimes for my Dead Husband's Soul.
The Living Husband, to return the Jest,
Call'd back the Man, and gave him all the rest;
With this Injunction too, That all his Life,
He shou'd remember his Departed Wife.
Thus, to upbraid each other with their Dead,
The empty Fools went Supperless to Bed.
And, for her sake, admir'd a Marry'd-Life;
To lose no Time, (whose precious Worth he knew)
Soon took another, and a Widow too.
She led him many weary Nights and Days,
And teaz'd him still with her first Husband's Praise:
While he, resolv'd to fit her in her kind,
As often call'd his former Wife to mind.
One Night it happen'd that, in moody Pet,
She carv'd a Capon, for their Supper set;
And, out of no Compassion to the Poor,
Serv'd with one half a Beggar at the Door;
And with it gave this Charge; Take this half Fowl,
And Pray sometimes for my Dead Husband's Soul.
The Living Husband, to return the Jest,
Call'd back the Man, and gave him all the rest;
111
He shou'd remember his Departed Wife.
Thus, to upbraid each other with their Dead,
The empty Fools went Supperless to Bed.
The MORAL.
‘When Discord sep'rates those whom Heaven had join'd,‘And their One-Flesh grows diff'rently enclin'd,
‘They still like this unhappy Couple act;
‘Ruin their Fortunes, and their Minds distract:
‘While each, to vex the other, grows Profuse,
‘They both themselves to equal Want reduce.
‘Husband and Wife, in their Conjunction, seem
‘Like Oxen yoak'd together in a Team:
‘If they together draw, they still improve;
‘But still lose Ground, if diff'rent Ways they move.
| Truth in Fiction | |