To wear his linen, must be sign of love:)
Blue was his coat, unsoil’d by spot or stain;
His hose were silk, his shoes of Spanish grain;
A silver knot his breadth of shoulder bore;
A diamond buckle blazed his breast before —
Diamond he swore it was! and show’d it as he swore;
Rings on his fingers shone; his milk-white hand
Could pick-tooth case and box for snuff command: 
And thus, with clouded cane, a fop complete,
He stalk’d, the jest and glory of the street,
Join’d with these powers, he could so sweetly sing,
Talk with such toss, and saunter with such swing;
Laugh with such glee, and trifle with such art,
That Lucy’s promise fail’d to shield her heart. 
   Stephen, meantime, to ease his amorous cares,
Fix’d his full mind upon his farm’s affairs;
Two pigs, a cow, and wethers half a score,
Increased his stock, and still he look’d for more. 
He, for his acres few, so duly paid,
That yet more acres to his lot were laid: 
Till our chaste nymphs no longer felt disdain,
And prudent matrons praised the frugal swain;
Who thriving well, through many a fruitful year,
Now clothed himself anew, and acted overseer. 
   Just then poor Lucy, from her friend in town
Fled in pure fear, and came a beggar down;
Trembling, at Stephen’s door she knocked for bread, —
Was chidden first, next pitied, and then fed;
Then sat at Stephen’s board, then shared in Stephen’s bed: 
All hope of marriage lost in her disgrace,
He mourns a flame revived, and she a love of lace. 
   Now to be wed a well-match’d couple came;
Twice had old Lodge been tied, and twice the dame;
Tottering they came and toying, (odious scene!)
And fond and simple, as they’d always been. 
Children from wedlock we by laws restrain;
Why not prevent them when they’re such again? 
Why not forbid the doting souls to prove
Th’ indecent fondling of preposterous love? 
In spite of prudence, uncontroll’d by shame,
The amorous senior woos the toothless dame,
Relating idly, at the closing eve,
The youthful follies he disdains to leave;
Till youthful follies wake a transient fire,
When arm in arm they totter and retire. 
   So a fond pair of solemn birds, all day
Blink in their seat and doze the hours away;
Then by the moon awaken’d, forth they move,
And fright the songsters with their cheerless love;
So two sear trees, dry, stunted, and unsound,
Each other catch, when dropping to the ground: 
Entwine their withered arms ’gainst wind and weather,
And shake their leafless heads and drop together: 
So two cold limbs, touch’d by Galvani’s wire,
Move with new life, and feel awaken’d fire;
Quivering awhile, their flaccid forms remain,
Then turn to cold torpidity again. 
   “But ever frowns your Hymen? man and maid,
Are all repenting, suffering, or betray’d?”
Forbid it, Love! we have our couples here