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Miscellanies in Prose and Verse

By Mrs. Catherine Jemmat
 

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The BATCHELOR's Choice.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


166

The BATCHELOR's Choice.

A Song.

I have seriously weigh'd it, and find it is just,
That a wife makes a man either bless'd or curst;
I declare I will marry, if I can but find
(Mark me well, ye young lasses!) the maid to my mind.
Not the pert little miss, who advice will despise,
Nor the girl that's so foolish to think herself wise;
Nor she who to all men alike would prove kind;
Not one of these three are the one to my mind.
Not the prude, who in public will never be free,
(Yet in private for ever a toying will be);
Nor coquette, that's too forward, nor jilt that's unkind;
Not one of these three is the maid to my mind.
Not she who for pleasure her husband will slight,
Nor the positive dame who thinks always she's right,
Nor she who a dupe to the fashion's inclin'd;
Not one of these three is the maid to my mind.

167

But the fair, with good nature, and carriage genteel,
Who her husband can love, and no secrets reveal,
In whose breast I may virtue and modesty find,
This, this, and this only's the maid to my mind.