Page:Janet Clinker's oration, on the villanies of the old women, and the pride of the young.pdf/2



HE madness of the unmuzzled age has driven me to mountains of thought and a continued meditation; it is enough to make an auld wife rin red-wood, and drive a body beyond the halter' end of ill-nature, to see what I see, and hear what I hear; therefore the hinges of my anger are broken and the hands of my good-nature are burst in two the door of civility is laid quite open, plain speech and mild admonition is of none effect; nothing must be used now but thunderbolts of reproach tartly trimmed in a tantalizing style, roughly rede up and manufactured through an old matron's mouth, who is indeed but frail in the teeth, but will squeeze surprisingly with her auld gums, until her very chaft blades crack in the crushing of your vice.

I shall branch out my discourse into four heads. First, What I have seen, and been witness to. Secondly, What I now see, and am witness to. Thirdly, What I have heard, do hear, and cannot help: I mean, the difference between old women and the young; and,