Abstemius's Fables (Sir Roger L'Estrange)
278. (Abstemius 25) An Old Fellow and a Young Wench.
There was a formal Piece of Gravity that liv'd to about Threescore and Ten, without ever so much as knowing a Woman from a Weather-Cock. The Devil Ought him a Shame, and paid him both Interest and Principal, in making the Old Doting Fop Marry a Young Girl. He would be often Complaining afterward, how Unluckily he had Dispos'd of his Time. When I was a Young Man, says he, I wanted a Wife, and now I'm an Old Man, my Wife wants a Husband.
The Common Fate of Unequal Matches, Especially in the Case of an Old Fellow, and a young Wench, where the Humour is as Contrary as Summer and Winter, Light and Darkness, or Day and Night.
Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists: Abstemius's Fables by Sir Roger L'Estrange. Available online at Google Books. |