Satan

IN SEARCH OF A WIFE,

&c.

PART THE FIRST.

I.

THE Devil was sick and queasy of late,

And his sleep and his appetite fail'd him ;

His ears they hung down, and his tail it was clapp'd

Between his poor hoofs, like a dog that's been rapp'd

None knew what the devil ail'd him.

B 2

II.

He tumbled and toss'd on his mattress o' nights,

That was fit for a fiend's disportal;

For 'twas made of the finest of thistles and thorn,

Which Alecto herself had gather'd in scorn

Of the best down beds that are mortal.

III.

His giantly chest in earthquakes heaved,

With groanings corresponding;

And mincing and few were the words he spoke,

While a sigh, like some delicate whirlwind, broke

From a heart that seem'd desponding.

IV.

Now the Devil an Old Wife had for his Dam,

I think none e'er was older:

Her years-old Parr's were nothing to them;

At the birth of Old Night a gossip she sat,

The ancientest there, and was godmother at

The christening of the Gorgons.

VI.

Her bones peep'd through a rhinoceros' skin,

Like a mummy's through its cerement;

But she had a mother's heart, and guess'd

What pinch'd her son; whom she thus address'd

In terms that bespoke endearment.

VIL.

"What ails my Nicky, my darling Imp,

My Lucifer bright, my Beelze?

My Pig, my Pug-with-a-curly-tail,

You are not well. Can a mother fail

To see that which all Hell see?"