"There stands, my friend, in yonder pool, An engine called the ducking-stool, By legal pow'r commanded down, The joy and terror of the town, If jarring females kindle strife, Give language foul or lug the coif; If noisy dames should once begin To drive the house with horrid din, Away, you cry, you'll grace the stool, We'll teach you how your tongue to rule. The fair offender fills the seat, In sullen pomp, profoundly great. Down in the deep the stool descends, But here, at first, we miss our ends; She mounts again, and rages more Than ever vixen did before. So, throwing water on the fire Will make it but burn up the higher; If so, my friend, pray let her take A second turn into the lake, And, rather than your patience lose, Thrice and again repeat the dose. No brawling wives, no furious wenches, No fire so hot, but water quenches. In Prior's skilful lines we see For these another recipe: A certain lady, we are told (A lady, too, and yet a scold), Was very much reliev'd, you'll say By water, yet a different way; A mouthful of the same she'd take, Sure not to scold, if not to speak." A footnote to the poem states: "To the honour of the fair sex in the neighbourhood of R----y, this machine has been taken down (as useless) several years." Most probably, says Mr. Jewitt, the foregoing refers to Rugby. In the old accounts of that town several items occur, as for example: 1721. June 5. Paid for a lock for ye ducking-stool, and spent in towne business 1s. 2d. 1739. Sept. 25. Ducking-stool repaired. And Dec. 21, 1741. A chain for ducking-stool 2s. 4d.