With me,

930

From forth this loathsome prison-house, to abide

where

my

redoubled love and care With nursing diligence, to me glad office, May ever tend about thee to old age

925,
With all things grateful chear'd, and so supply'd,
That what by me thou' haft lost thou least shalt miss.

SAMs. No, no, of my condition take no care ;
It fits not; thou and I long since are twain :
Ņor think me so unwary or accurs’d,
To bring my feet again into the snare
Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains
Though dearly to my coft, thy gins, and toils ;
Thy fair inchanted cup, and warbling charms
No more on me have power, their force is null’d, 935
So much of adder's wisdom I have learn'd
To fence my ear against thy forceries.
If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men
Lov’d, honor'd, fear'd me, thou alone could'st hate me
Thy husband, slight me, sell me, and forego me; 949.
How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby
Deceivable, in most things as a child
Helpless, thence easily contemn’d, and scorn'd,
And last neglected ? How wouldst thou insult,
When I must live uxorious to thy will

945
In perfect thraldom, how again betray me,
Bearing my words and doings to the lords
To gloss upon, and censuring, frown or smile ?
This jail I count the house of liberty
To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter. 950
DAL: Let me approach at least, and touch thy hand,

SAMS.

Sams. Not for thy life, left fierce remembrance wake My sudden rage to tear thee joint by joint. At distance I forgive thee, go with that; Bewail thy falfhood, and the pious works

955 It hath brought forth to make thee memorable Among illustrious women, faithful wives : Cherish thy hasten d widowhood with the gold Of matrimonial treason: so farewel.

DAL. I see thou art implacable, more deaf 960 Το prayers, than winds and seas, yet winds to seas Are reconcil'd ať length, and sea to fhore : Thy anger, unappeasable, ftill rages, Eternal tempest never to be calm’d. Why do I humble thus myself, and fuing 965 For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate ?

with evil omen and the brand Of infamy upon my name denounc'd ? To mix with thy concernments I desist Henceforth, nor too much disapprove my own. 970 Fame if not double-fac'd is double-mouthod, And with contrary blast proclames most' deeds ; On both his wings, one black, the other white, Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight. My name perhaps among the circumcis'd

975 In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering tribes, To all posterity may stand defam'd, With malediction mention'd, and the blot Of falfhood most unconjugal traduc'd. But in my country where I most desire,

980 In Ecron, Gaza, Aldod, and in Gath,

I shall

Bid go

I shall be nam'd among the famoufest
Of women, sung at folemn festivals,
Living and dead recorded, who, to save
Her country from a fierce destroyer, chose 985
Above the faith of wedlock-bands, my tomb
With odors visited and annual flowers ;
Not less renown'd than in mount Ephraim
Jacl, who with inhospitable guile
Smote Sisera leeping through the temples nail'd.

990
Nor shall I count it hainous to enjoy
The public marks of honor and reward,
Conferr'd upon me, for the piety
Which to my country I was judg’d to have shown.
At this whoever envies or repines,

995 I leave him to his lot, and like my own.

Cho. She's gone, a manifest serpent by her sting
Discover'd in the end, till now conceal’d.

SAMS. So let her go, God sent her to debase me,
And aggravate my folly, who committed
To such a viper his most sacred trust
Of secrefy, my safety, and my life.

Cho. Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange After offense returning, to regain

[power, Love once possess’d, nor can be easily Repuls d, without much inward passion felt And secret sting of amorous remorse.

Sams. Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end, Not wedlock-treachery indangering life.

Cho. It is not virtue, wisdom, valor, wit, Strength, comeliness of shape, or amplest merit

That

100e

1005

IOIO

1015

102

1025

That woman's love can win or long inherit;
But what it is, hard is to say,
Harder to hit,
(Which way foever men refer it)
Much like thy riddle, Samson, in one day
Or seven, though one should musing sit.

If any of these or all, the Timnian bride
Had not so soon preferr'd
Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compar’d,
Successor in thy bed,
Nor both so loofly disally'd
Their nuptials, nor this last so treacherously
Had Morn the fatal harveit of thy head.
Is it for that such outward ornament
Was lavish'd on their sex, that inward gifts
Were left for haste unfinish’d, judgment scant,
Capacity not rais'd to apprehend
Or value what is best
In choice, but oftest to affeet the wrong?
Or was too much of self-love mix’d,
Of constancy no root intix’d,
That either they love nothing, or not long ?

Whate'er it be, to wisest men and best
Seeming at first all heav'nly under virgin veil,
Soft, modest, meek, demure,
Once join'd, the contrary the proves, a thorn
Intestin, far within defensive arms
A cleaving mischief, in his way to virtue
Adverse and turbulent, or by her charms
Draws him awry inflav'd

1030

1035

1040

1045

With dotage, and his sense deprav'd
To folly' and shameful deeds which ruin ends.
What pilot fo expert but needs must wreck
Imbark'd with such a steers-mate at the helm ?

Favor'd of Heav'n who finds
One virtuous rarely found,
That in domestic good combines :
Happy that house! his way to peace is smooth :
Buť virtue, which breaks through all opposition, 1050
And all temptation can remove,
Most shines and most is acceptable above.

Therefore God's universal law Gave to the man deipotic power Over his female in due awe,

1055 Nor from that right to part an hour, Smile flie or lcur : So shall he least confusion draw On his whole life, not fway'd by female usurpation, or dismay'd.

1060 But had we best retire, I see a storm ?

Sams. Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain. Cho. But this another kind of tempelt brings. Sams. Be less abftrufe, my riddling days are past.

Cho. Look now for no inchanting voice, nor fear The bait of honied words; a rougher tongue Draws hitherward, I know him by his stride, The giant Harapha of Gath, his look Haughty as is his pile high-built and proud. Comes he in peace? what wind hath blown him hither I less conjecture than when first I saw

The