CHAPTER IX.

See yonder woman, whom our swains revere, And dread in secret, while they take her counsel When sweetheart shall be kind, or when cross dame shall die; Where lurks the thief who stole the silver tankard, And how the pestilent murrain may be cured.-- This sage adviser's mad, stark mad, my friend; Yet, in her madness, hath the art and cunning To wring fools' secrets from their inmost bosoms, And pay enquirers with the coin they gave her. _Old Play._ It …