from Chapter 10 -
1st Gent.
What woman should be? Sir, consult the taste
Of marriageable men. This planet's store
In iron, cotton, wool, or chemicals —
All matter rendered to our plastic skill,
Is wrought in shapes responsive to demand:
The market's pulse makes index high or low,
By rule sublime. Our daughters must be wives,
And to be wives must be what men will choose:
Men's taste is women's test. You mark the phrase?
'Tis good, I think? — the sense well winged and poised
With t's and s's.
2d Gent. Nay, but turn it round:
Give us the test of taste. A fine menu —
Is it to-day what Roman epicures
Insisted that a gentleman must eat
To earn the dignity of dining well?
What woman should be? Sir, consult the taste
Of marriageable men. This planet's store
In iron, cotton, wool, or chemicals —
All matter rendered to our plastic skill,
Is wrought in shapes responsive to demand:
The market's pulse makes index high or low,
By rule sublime. Our daughters must be wives,
And to be wives must be what men will choose:
Men's taste is women's test. You mark the phrase?
'Tis good, I think? — the sense well winged and poised
With t's and s's.
2d Gent. Nay, but turn it round:
Give us the test of taste. A fine menu —
Is it to-day what Roman epicures
Insisted that a gentleman must eat
To earn the dignity of dining well?
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