The Ladies
The author of this epigram on Women prudently remains in concealment:
Oh, the gladness of their gladness when they’re glad,
And the sadness of their sadness when they’re sad;
But the gladness of their gladness and the sadness of their sadness,
Are as nothing to their badness when they’re bad.
This has been capped by a later rhymester, as follows:
Oh, the shrewdness of their shrewdness when they’re shrewd,
And the rudeness of their rudeness when they’re rude;
But the shrewdness of their shrewdness and the rudeness of their rudeness,
Are as nothing to their goodness when they’re good.