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.

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, Act II. Scene 2.

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

Macbeth, Act V. Scene 1.

Our house is hell, and thou a merry devil.

Merchant of Venice, Act II. Scene 3.

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, Act I. Scene 2.

TALE XIII.

JESSE AND COLIN.

A VICAR died and left his Daughter poor-
It hurt her not, she was not rich before:
Her humble share of worldly goods she sold,
Paid every debt, and then her fortune told;
And found, with youth and beauty, hope and health,
Two hundred guineas was her worldly wealth;
It then remain'd to choose her path in life,
And first, said Jesse, "Shall I be a wife?—
"Colin is mild and civil, kind and just,

"I know his love, his temper I can trust; ̧
"But small his farm, it asks perpetual care,
"And we must toil as well as trouble share:
"True, he was taught in all the gentle arts
"That raise the soul, and soften human hearts;
"And boasts a Parent, who deserves to shine
“In higher class, and I could wish her mine;
"Nor wants he will his station to improve,
"A just ambition waked by faithful love ;—
"Still is he poor-and here my Father's Friend
"Deigns for his Daughter, as her own, to send ;

"A worthy lady, who it seems has known "A world of griefs and troubles of her own: “I was an infant, when she came, a guest "Beneath my Father's humble roof to rest; "Her kindred all unfeeling, vast her woes, "Such her complaint, and there she found repose; "Enrich'd by fortune, now she nobly lives, "And nobly, from the blest abundance, gives; "The grief, the want of human life, she knows, "And comfort there and here relief bestows; "But are they not dependants?—Foolish pride! "Am I not honour'd by such friend and guide? "Have I a home," (here Jesse dropp'd a tear), "Or friend beside?"-A faithful friend was near.

Now Colin came, at length resolved to lay His heart before her and to urge her stay; True, his own plough the gentle Colin drove, An humble farmer with aspiring love; Who, urged by passion, never dared till now, Thus urged by fears, his trembling hopes avow: Her father's glebe he managed; every year The grateful Vicar held the Youth more dear; He saw indeed the prize in Colin's view, And wish'd his Jesse with a man so true;