Tale III.
Variant of title:
THE RAKE AND COQUETTE.
variant of ll. 149–50:
“Have you not heard—for though I do not mean
To start an ill opinion of your Queen—
variant of ll. 220–4:
But these pass off and oh! what tempests shake
The moral view, what dire change they make!
Temper not hidden, vice no more supprest—
What stores of Discord swell in either breast.
the Tale concludes:
The Authors both, both Victims [of] Deceit,
Each feels the Craft that Each was doom’d to meet—
Time past in Folly or in Mischief spent,
Time present to regret and Suffering lent;
While feeble Hopes in either Bosom reign, }
That Death in time to come would snap their Chain }
And free from Thraldom one, and one release from Pain. }