Women! the wretches! had soil’d and marr’d Whatever to womanly nature belongs; For the marriage tie they had no regard, Nay, sped their mates to the sexton’s yard, (Like Madame Laffarge, who with poisonous pinches Kept cutting off her L by inches)-- And as for drinking, they drank so hard That they drank their flat-irons, pokers, and tongs! The men--they fought and gambled at fairs; And poach’d--and didn’t respect grey hairs-- Stole linen, money, plate, poultry, and corses; And broke in houses as well as horses; Unfolded folds to kill their own mutton,-- And would their own mothers and wives for a button; But not to repeat the deeds they did, Backsliding in spite of all moral skid, If all were true that fell from the tongue, There was not a villager, old or young, But deserved to be whipp’d, imprison’d, or hung, Or sent on those travels which nobody hurries, To publish at Colburn’s, or Longman’s, or Murray’s. Meanwhile the Trumpet, _con amore_, Transmitted each vile diabolical story; And gave the least whisper of slips and falls, As that Gallery does in the Dome of St. Paul’s, Which, as all the world knows, by practice or print, Is famous for making the most of a hint. Not a murmur of shame, Or buzz of blame, Not a flying report that flew at a name, Not a plausible gloss, or significant note, Not a word in the scandalous circles afloat, Of a beam in the eye, or diminutive note, But vortex-like that tube of tin Suck’d the censorious particle in; And, truth to tell, for as willing an organ As ever listen’d to serpent’s hiss, Nor took the viperous sound amiss, On the snaky head of an ancient Gorgon! The Dame, it is true, would mutter “shocking!” And give her head a sorrowful rocking, And make a clucking with palate and tongue, Like the call of Partlett to gather her young, A sound, when human, that always proclaims At least a thousand pities and shames; But still the darker the tale of sin, Like certain folks, when calamities burst, Who find a comfort in “hearing the worst,” The farther she poked the Trumpet in. Nay, worse, whatever she heard, she spread East and West, and North and South, Like the ball which, according to Captain Z., Went in at his ear, and came out at his mouth.