O Love! thou bane of the most generous souls! Thou doubtful pleasure, and thou certain pain.

Who to a woman trusts his peace of mind, Trusts a frail bark, with a tempestuous wind.

Marriage the happiest bond of love might be, If hands were only joined when hearts agree.

Shall Nature, erring from her first command, self-preservation, fall by her own hand?

Of all the kind of pains, the greatest pain is to love and to love in vain.

Of all the plagues with which the world is curst, Of every ill, a woman is the worst.

O Love! thou bane of the most generous souls! Thou doubtful pleasure, and thou certain pain.