The Contented Wife, with the Husband's Answer/The Husband's Answer

by Anonymous

For other versions of this work, see The Husband's Answer.

Text divider from 'The Contented Wife, with the Husband's Answer', a chapbook printed in Glasgow in 1802

THE HUSBAND'S ANSWER.

My wife is a notable girl I must own,
 And now I do love her most dearly.
She never did scold when that I came home,
 Was I ever so late or so early.
I stagger'd to bed, where all night I did ly,
Snoring fast by her side like a pig in a sty;
I sometimes call'd her names but she ne'er would reply,
 No man e'er was happier married.

Her goodness at length did my wildness reclaim,
 That I should abuse such good nature:
I thought with myself I was much to blame,
 And therefore resolve to grow better.
I've left off my drinking and reveling quite,
My kind wife and children is all my delight,
My health I preserve, and my money stood by me,
 No man was e'er happier married.

She is a good wife and a house-wife besides,
 Although I have been such a villain,
She will make a groat go further indeed,
 Than many one will make a shilling.
She's none of those wives that drinks coffee or tea,
Or gossips about with her neighbours all day,
Or e'er goes abroad unless it's with me,
 No man e'er was happier married.