HOWE’ER,
so cunningly with him she dealt,
That
Harry turn’d, and soon the pack-thread felt,
Which
rais’d distrust, and led him to suspect
Some
bad design the thread was meant t’effect.
A
little time, as if asleep, he lay
Considering
how to act, or what to say;
Then
rose, (his spouse believing not awake,)
And
softly treading, lest the room should shake;
The
pack-thread follow’d to the outer door,
And
thence concluded (what he might deplore,)
That
his dear partner from her faith would stray,
And
some gallant that night design’d to play
The
lover’s part and draw the secret clue,
When
she would rise, and with him freaks pursue,
While
he (good husband!) quietly in bed
Might
sleep, not dreaming that his wife had fled.
Forotherwise, what use such pains to take?
A
visit cuckoldom, perhaps, might make;
An
honour that he’d willingly decline;
On
which he studied how to countermine;
And
like a sentinel mov’d to and fro’,
To
watch if any one would thither go
To
pull the string, that he could see with ease,
And
then he’d instantly the culprit seize.
The,
reader will perceive, we may suppose,
Besides
the entrance which the husband chose,
On
t’other side a door, where our gallant
Could
enter readily, as he might want,
And
there the spark a chambermaid let in:—
Oft
servants prone are found a bribe to win.
WhileBerlinguier thus watch’d around and round;
The
friends with one another pleasures found;
But
heav’n alone knows how nor what they were:—
No
fact transpir’d save all was free from care;
So
well the servant kept the careful watch,
That
not a chance was given the pair to catch:
Thespark at dawn the lady left alone,
And
ere the husband came the bird was flown;
Then
Harry, weary, took his place again,
Complaining,
that he’d felt such racking pain,
And
dreading, lest alarms her breast should seize,
Within
another room he’d sought for ease.
Two
days had pass’d, when madam thought once more,
To
set the thread, as she had done before;
He
left the bed, pretending he was sick,
Resumed
his post; again the lover came,
And,
with my lady, play’d the former game.
Thescheme so well succeeded, that the pair
Thrice
wish’d to try the wily pack-thread snare;
The
husband with the cholic mov’d away,
His
place the bold gallant resum’d till day.