Thevillage lawyer now the friends addressed: 
          Said he, Antoinetta is confessed
          To have superior charms to those of Jane;
          But still, if I may venture to be plain,
          Not always is the best what meets the eye,
          For many beauties in concealment lie,
          Which I prefer; and these are hid with care;
          Deceptions, too, are practised by the fair;
          Howe’er, we wish the whole to be disclosed,
          Too much, ’tis said, they must not be exposed.

          Now, neighbours, let us fair arrangement make: 
          A pig in poke you’d neither give nor take;
          Confront these halves in nature’s birth-day suit;
          To neither, then, will you deceit impute. 
          The project was most thoroughly approved;
          Like inclination both the husbands moved.

          Antoinetta, said the second spouse,
          Has neither ill nor scratch her fears to rouse. 
          Jane, cried the first, is ev’ry way complete;
          No freckles on the skin:  as balm she’s sweet: 
          Antoinetta is, her spouse replied,
          Ambrosia ev’ry way:  no fault to hide.

          Saidt’other:—­Don’t so confident appear;
          Thou know’st not Jane:  her ways would marble cheer;
          And there’s a play:—­thou understand’st no doubt? 
          To this rejoined the second village lout,
          One diff’rence only have my wife and I: 
          Which plays the prettiest wiles is what we try;
          Thou’lt very soon of these know how to think;
          Here’s to thee, neighbour; Mister Oud’net, drink;
          Come, toast Antoinetta; likewise Jane;
          The mule was granted, and the bargain plain: 
          Our village lawyer promised to prepare,
          At once, the writings, which would all declare. 
          This Oudinet a good apostle proved
          Well paid for parchment, or he never moved: 
          By whom was payment made?—­by both the dames;
          On neither husband showed he any claims.

          Thevillage clowns some little time supposed
          That all was secret:  not a hint disclosed;
          The parson of it, howsoe’er, obtained
          Some intimation, and his off’rings gained. 
          I was not present, fully I admit;
          But rarely clergymen their dues will quit. 
          The very clerk would not remit his fee:—­
          All those who serve the church in this agree.

          Thepermutation could not well be made,
          But scandal would such practices upbraid;
          In country villages each step is seen;
          Thus, round the whisper went of what had been,
          And placed at length the thorn where all was ease;