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And they'd join such a log of a spouse to condemn, - One eternally thinking,

-

And blinking, and winking

At grubs, when he ought to be winking at them. —
But no! oh no!

'Twas by no means so

With the Lady Jane Ingoldsby - she, far discreeter
And, having a temper more even and sweeter,
Would never object to

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Much less be still keeping lamenting, and weeping,
Or scolding at what she perceived him so deep in.

Tout au contraire,

No lady so fair

Was e'er known to wear more contented an air;

And, let who would call, every day she was there,
Propounding receipts for some delicate fare,

Some toothsome conserve, of quince, apple, or pear,
Or distilling strong waters, or potting a hare,-
Or counting her spoons and her crockery ware;
Or else, her tambour-frame before her, with care
Embroidering a stool or a back for a chair,
With needlework roses, most cunning and rare,
Enough to make less-gifted visitors stare,
And declare, where'er

They had been, that "they ne'er

In their lives had seen aught that at all could compare
With dear Lady Jane's housewifery that they would swear.

Nay more; don't suppose
With such doings as those

This account of her merits must come to a close;
No:-examine her conduct more closely, you'll find
She by no means neglected improving her mind;
For there, all the while, with air quite bewitching,
She sat herring-boning, tambouring, or stitching,

Or having an eye to affairs of the kitchen.

Close by her side,

Sat her kinsman, MacBride,

-

Her cousin, fourteen times removed, as you'll see
If you look at the Ingoldsby family tree,
In "Burke's Commoners," vol. xx, page 53.
All the papers I've read agree,

Too, with the pedigree,

Where, among the collateral branches, appears
"Captain Dugald MacBride, Royal Scots Fusileers;"
And I doubt if you'd find in the whole of his clan
A more highly intelligent, worthy young man;

And there he'd be sitting,

While she was a-knitting,

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Or hemming, or stitching, or darning and fitting,
Or putting a "gore," or a "gusset," or "bit" in,
Reading aloud, with a very grave look,

Some very "wise saw" from some very good book, –
Some such pious divine as

St. Thomas Aquinas;

Or, equally charming,
The works of Bellarmine;
Or else he unravels

The "voyages and travels"

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Purchas's, Hawksworth's, or Lemuel Gulliver's, —
Not to name others, 'mongst whom there are few so
Admired as John Bunyan, and Robinson Crusoe.
No matter who came,

It was always the same,

The Captain was reading aloud to the Dame,

Till, from having gone through half the books on the shelf, They were almost as wise as Sir Thomas himself.

Well, it happen'd one day,

-I really can't say

The particular month; - but I think 'twas in May,— 'Twas, I know, in the Springtime, when "Nature looks gay,"

TAPPINGTON EVERARD, ENGLAND, HOME OF

BARHAM

B/5H771

17ьыZC1OZ ELEK/KD' EZCTFZD' HOME OF

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