Ye Wretches ingrate! to find Fault with your Wives,
The Comfort, the Solace, and Joy of your Lives!
Don't SOLOMON speak of such Women with Rapture
In Verse his Eleventh and thirty-first Chapter?
He says, "If you find out a virtuous Wife,
" She will do a Man good all the Days of her Life;
"She deals like a Merchant, she sitteth up late."
And you'll find it is written in Verse Twenty-Eight,
"Her Husband is sure to be known at the Gate:
" He never hath Need or Occasion for Spoil
"When his Wife is much better employ'd all the while;
" She seeketh fine Wool and fine Linen she buys,
"And is clothed in Purple and Scarlet likewise. —"
Now pray don't your Wives do the very same thing,
And follow th' Advice of this worthy old King?
Do they spare for Expences themselves in adorning?
Don't they go about buying fine Things all the Morning?
And at Cards all the Night take the Trouble to play,
To get back the Money they spent in the Day?
And sure there's no Sort of Occasion to shew,
Ye are known at the Gate, or wherever ye go.
Pray are not your Ladies at  better plac'd
Than the Wife of a King who herself so disgrac'd,
And at  liv'd in
Poor Soul! while her husband thought proper to leave her,
She slav'd all the Day like a Spitalfields Weaver,
And then, like a Fool, when her Web was half spun,
Pull'd to-pieces at Night all the Work she had done:
But these to their Husbands more Profit can yield,
And are much like a Lilly that grows in the Field;
They toil not indeed, nor indeed do they spin,
Yet they never are idle when once they begin,
But are very intent on encreasing their Store,
And always keep shuffling and cutting for more:
Industrious Creatures! that make it a Rule
To secure half the Fish while they  the Pool:
So they win to be sure; yet I very much wonder
Why they put so much Money the Candlestick under,
For up comes a Man on a sudden, Slapdash,
Snuffs the Candles, and carries away all the Cash:
And as Nobody troubles their Heads any more,
I'm in very great Hopes that it goes to the Poor. —
Methinks I should like to excel in a Trade,
By which such a Number their Fortunes have made.
I've heard of a wise philosophical Jew
That shuffles the Cards in a Manner that's new,
One JONAS, I think: — And cou'd wish for the future
To have that illustrious Sage for my Tutor;
And the Captain, whose Kindness I ne'er can forget,
Will teach me a Game that he calls Lansquenet;
So I soon shall acquaint you what Money I've won;
In the mean Time I rest, Your most dutiful Son,