It so befell, in that fair morning tide, The fairies sported on the garden side, And in the midst their monarch and his bride. So featly tripp'd the light-foot ladies round, 620 The knights so nimbly o'er the greensward bound, That scarce they bent the flowers or touch'd the ground. The dances ended, all the fairy train For pinks and daisies search'd the flowery plain; While on a bank reclined of rising green, Thus, with a frown, the king bespoke his queen: ''Tis too apparent, argue what you can, The treachery you women use to man: A thousand authors have this truth made out, And sad experience leaves no room for doubt. 630 'Heaven rest thy spirit, noble Solomon! A wiser monarch never saw the sun: All wealth, all honours, the supreme degree Of earthly bliss, was well bestow'd on thee! For sagely hast thou said, Of all mankind, One only just, and righteous, hope to find: But shouldst thou search the spacious world around, Yet one good woman is not to be found. 'Thus says the king, who knew your wickedness; The son of Sirach testifies no less. 640 So may some wild-fire on your bodies fall, Or some devouring plague consume you all; As well you view the lecher in the tree, And well this honourable knight you see: But, since he's blind and old (a helpless case), His squire shall cuckold him before your face. 'Now by my own dread majesty I swear, And by this awful sceptre which I bear, No impious wretch shall 'scape unpunish'd long, That in my presence offers such a wrong. 650 I will this instant undeceive the knight, And in the very act restore his sight: And set the strumpet here in open view, A warning to these ladies, and to you, And all the faithless sex, for ever to be true.' 'And will you so,' replied the queen, 'indeed? Now, by my mother's soul, it is decreed, She shall not want an answer at her need. For her, and for her daughters, I'll engage, And all the sex in each succeeding age; 660 Art shall be theirs to varnish an offence, And fortify their crimes with confidence. Nay, were they taken in a strict embrace, Seen with both eyes, and pinion'd on the place; All they shall need is to protest and swear, Breathe a soft sigh, and drop a tender tear; Till their wise husbands, gull'd by arts like these, Grow gentle, tractable, and tame as geese. 'What though this slanderous Jew, this Solomon, Call'd women fools, and knew full many a one; 670 The wiser wits of later times declare How constant, chaste, and virtuous women are: Witness the martyrs who resign'd their breath, Serene in torments, unconcern'd in death; And witness next what Roman authors tell, How Arria, Portia, and Lucretia fell.