Where all he deems is vanish'd in that flame,

Swept from the earth his substance and his

name;

So, lost to every promised joy of life,

Our 'Squire stood gaping at his angry wife ;-
His fate, his ruin, where he saw it vain,
To hope for peace, pray, threaten, or complain;
And thus, betwixt his wonder at the ill
And his despair-there stood he gaping still.

"Your answer, sir!-shall I depart a spot "I thus detest?"—" Oh, miserable lot!" Exclaim'd the man. "Go, serpent! nor remain "To sharpen woe by insult and disdain : "A nest of harpies was I doom'd to meet; "What plots, what combinations of deceit! "I see it now- -all plann'd, design'd, contrived; "Served by that villain—by this fury wived— "What fate is mine! What wisdom, virtue, truth, "Can stand, if demons set their traps for youth? "He lose his way! vile dog! he cannot lose "The way a villain through his life pursues; "And thou, deceiver! thou afraid to move, "And hiding close the serpent in the dove! "I saw-but, fated to endure disgrace,

"And call'd it spirit-Oh! I might have found "Fraud and imposture-all the kindred round! "A nest of vipers"

"Sir, I'll not admit

"These wild effusions of your angry wit:

"Have you that value, that we all should use "Such mighty arts for such important views? "Are you such prize-and is my state so fair, "That they should sell their souls to get me there? "Think you that we alone our thoughts disguise? "When in pursuit of some contended prize,

"Mask we alone the heart, and soothe whom we despise !

Speak you of craft and subtle schemes, who know "That all your wealth you to deception owe; "Who play'd for ten dull years a scoundrel-part, "To worm yourself into a Widow's heart? "Now, when you guarded, with superior skill, "That lady's closet, and preserved her Will, "Blind in your craft, you saw not one of those

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Opposed by you might you in turn oppose;

"Or watch your motions, and by art obtain

"Share of that wealth you gave your peace to gain? "Did conscience never

"Know then, this wealth, sole object of your care, "I had some right, without your hand, to share;

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My mother's claim was just-but soon she saw "Your power, compell'd, insulted, to withdraw: "'T was then my father, in his anger, swore "You should divide the fortune, or restore;

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Long we debated—and you find me now "Heroic victim to a father's vow;

"Like Jephtha's daughter, but in different state, "And both decreed to mourn our early fate; "Hence was my brother servant to your pride,

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Vengeance made him your slave—and me your bride:

"Now all is known- -a dreadful price I pay

"For our revenge-but still we have our day;
"All that you love you must with others share,
"Or all you dread from their resentment dare:
"Yet terms I offer-let contention cease;
"Divide the spoil, and let us part in peace."

Our Hero trembling heard-he sat—he roseNor could his motions nor his mind compose; He paced the room - and, stalking to her side, Gazed on the face of his undaunted bride;

And nothing there but scorn and calm aversion spied.

He would have vengeance, yet he fear'd the law:
Her friends would threaten, and their power he saw;
"Then let her go:"-but, oh! a mighty sum
Would that demand, since he had let her come;
Nor from his sorrows could he find redress,
Save that which led him to a like distress,
And all his ease was in his wife to see
A wretch as anxious and distress'd as he :
Her strongest wish, the fortune to divide,
And part in peace, his avarice denied ;
And thus it happen'd, as in all deceit,
The cheater found the evil of the cheat;

The Husband grieved

nor was the Wife at rest; Him she could vex, and he could her molest; She could his passion into frenzy raise, But when the fire was kindled, fear'd the blaze: As much they studied, so in time they found The easiest way to give the deepest wound; But then, like fencers, they were equal still, Both lost in danger what they gain'd in skill; Each heart a keener kind of rancour gain'd, And paining more, was more severely pain'd; And thus by both were equal vengeance dealt, And both the anguish they inflicted felt. (1)

(1) [In 'Squire Thomas' we have the history of a mean domineering spirit, who, having secured the succession of a rich relation by assiduous flattery, looks about for some obsequious and yielding fair one, from whom he may exact homage in his turn. He thinks he has found such a one in a lowly damsel in his neighbourhood, and marries her without much premeditation ; when he discovers, to his consternation, not only that she has the spirit of a virago, but that she and her family have decoyed him into the match, to revenge or indemnify themselves for his having run away with the whole inheritance of their common relative. She hopes to bully him into a separate maintenance—but his avarice refuses to buy his peace at such a price; and they continue to live together on a very successful system of mutual tormenting.-JEFFREY.]

TALE XIII.

JESSE AND COLIN.

Then she plots, then she ruminates, then she devises, and what they think in their hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but they will effect. Merry Wives of Windsor.

She hath spoken that she should not, I am sure of that; Heaven knows what she hath known. - Macbeth.

Our house is hell, and thou a merry devil.

Merchant of Venice.

And yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit of too much, as they that starve with nothing; it is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean. Merchant of Venice.