| Citation |
VGW(HU.774.022
10 Feb 1774:12 (1166)
The Longing Widow. How seldom do we profit by advice, but
when it coincides with our own prepossessions or prejudices!
A certain widow was seized with a violent longing for the
re-enjoyment of the comforts of matrimony; and John, her
trusty servant, was the happy object of her choice. To
satisfy her doubts, however, as to the propriety of this
step, she resolved to consult the curate of the parish. "I
am not too old to enter again into wedlock, " said she. Get
married, replied the reverend counsellor. "But people will
say, perhaps, that my spouse is much too young for me." Do
not marry. . . Our widow, rendered more uncertain than ever
by these responses, could not help complaining to the
curate; and he, that nothing might be left to hazard in so
delicate a point, desired her to consult the parish bells,
which were just going to ring. In doing this she heard, or
thought she heard, them incessantly repeat to her, Marry thy
man John, Marry thy man John. She accordingly did marry
John, and bitterly repented it. "How (cried she to the
curate, among other reproaches) could you leave me to so
fallacious an oracle as the bells? You misunderstood them,
replied the priest. Listen to them once more. Well, what
do they say now? "Ah, they speak truth now. Would that
they had done so before! "They say, Marry not thy man John,
Marry not thy man John."
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