To dine on devils without drinking,
To want a seat when almost sinking,
To pay to-day--receive to-morrow,
To sit at feasts in silent sorrow,
To sweat in winter--in the boot
To feel the gravel cut one's foot,
Or a cursed flea within the stocking
Chase up and down--are very shocking:
With one hand dirty, one hand clean,
Or with one slipper to be seen:
To be detain'd when most in hurry,
Might put Griselda in a flurry;--
But these, and every other bore,
If to the list you add a score,
Are not so bad, upon my life,
As that one scourge--a scolding wife!
_New Monthly Magazine_.
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