Harke newes, ô envy, thou shalt heare descry'd My _Iulia_; who as yet was ne'r envy'd. To vomit gall in slander, swell her vaines With calumny, that hell it selfe disdaines, Is her continuall practice; does her best, 5 To teare opinion even out of the brest Of dearest friends, and (which is worse than vilde) Sticks jealousie in wedlock; her owne childe Scapes not the showres of envie, To repeate The monstrous fashions, how, were, alive, to eate 10 Deare reputation. Would to God she were But halfe so loath to act vice, as to heare My milde reproofe. Liv'd _Mantuan_ now againe, That fœmall Mastix, to limme with his penne This she _Chymera_, that hath eyes of fire, 15 Burning with anger, anger feeds desire, Tongued like the night-crow, whose ill boding cries Give out for nothing but new injuries, Her breath like to the juice in _Tenarus_ That blasts the springs, though ne'r so prosperous, 20 Her hands, I know not how, us'd more to spill The food of others, then her selfe to fill. But oh her minde, that _Orcus_, which includes Legions of mischiefs, countlesse multitudes Of formlesse curses, projects unmade up, 25 Abuses yet unfashion'd, thoughts corrupt, Mishapen Cavils, palpable untroths, Inevitable errours, self-accusing oaths: These, like those Atoms swarming in the Sunne, Throng in her bosome for creation. 30 I blush to give her halfe her due; yet say, No poyson's halfe so bad as _Iulia_. [Elegie XIII. _&c. Ed:_ Eleg. XV. _&c. 1635-54:_ Elegie XV. _1669:_ Iulia. _B:_ Elegy. Iulia. _O'F_] [5 practice; _Ed:_ practice, _1635-69_] [7 vilde) _Ed:_ vile) _1635-69:_ vilde _is the regular spelling of this word in the Donne MSS._] [8 in wedlock;] in the sheets of wedlock; _B_] [10 how, _1635:_ how; _1639-69_] [That fœmall Mastix, _1635:_ _1639-69 and Chambers drop comma. But see note_] [18 injuries, _1635-39:_ injuries. _1650-69_] [20 prosperous, _Ed:_ prosperous. _1635-69_] [24 mischiefs _O'F:_ mischiefe, _1635-69_] [28 oaths: _B_, _H-K_ (_Grosart_): loathes: _1635-69_, _O'F_] [31 give but half _B:_ give half her _O'F_ yet say,] only this say, _B:_ but this say _O'F_] ELEGIE XIV. _A Tale of a Citizen and his Wife._