Page:The princess; a medley (IA princessmedley00tennrich).pdf/121

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A MEDLEY.
113
That it was little better in better timesWith smoother men: the old leaven leaven'd all: Millions of throats would bawl for civil rights,No woman named: therefore I set my faceAgainst all men and lived but for mine own.Far off from men we built a fold for them:We stored it full of rich memorial:We fenced it round with gallant institutes,And biting laws to scare the beasts of prey,And prosper'd; till a set of saucy boysBrake on us at our books, and marr'd our peace, Mask'd like our maids, blustering we know not whatOf insolence and love, some pretext heldOf old affiance, invalid, since our willSeal'd not the bond—the striplings!—for their sport!—We have tamed our leopards: shall we not tame these? Or you? or we? for since you think we are touch'dIn honour—nay, we would not aught of false—Is not our cause pure? and whereas we knowYour prowess, Arac, and what mother's blood
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