I.

As the Sabine Matron chaste,

## Active as th' Apulian Wife,

See she assumes, with cheerful haste, The pleasing cares of wedded life; Draws the clean vestment o'er the little limbs, And, when the tearful eye of passion swims, With mild authority commanding, Repressing ill, and good expanding, Anxious she weeds the infant heart betimes, Ere ill propension thrive, and ripen into crimes.