Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431393" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Sick Abbess</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">EXAMPLE often proves of sov'reign use;<br>At other times it cherishes abuse;<br>'Tis not my purpose, howsoe'er, to tell<br>Which of the two I fancy to excel.<br>Some will conceive the Abbess acted right,<br>While others think her conduct very light<br>Be that as 'twill, her actions right or wrong,<br>I'll freely give a license to my tongue,<br>Or pen, at all events, and clearly show,<br>By what some nuns were led to undergo,<br>That flocks are equally of flesh and blood,<br>And, if one passes, hundreds stem the flood,<br>To follow up the course the first has run,<br>And imitate what t'other has begun.<br>When Agnes passed, another sister came,<br>And ev'ry nun desired to do the same;<br>At length the guardian of the flock appeared,<br>And likewise passed, though much at first she feared.<br>The tale is this, we purpose to relate;<br>And full particulars we now will state.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">AN Abbess once a certain illness had,<br>Chlorosis named, which oft proves very bad,<br>Destroys the rose that decorates the cheek,<br>And renders females languid, pale, and weak.<br>Our lady's face was like a saint's in Lent:<br>Quite wan, though otherwise it marked content.<br>The faculty, consulted on her case,<br>And who the dire disorder's source would trace,<br>At length pronounced slow fever must succeed,<br>And death inevitably be decreed,<br>Unless;--but this unless is very strange<br>Unless indeed she some way could arrange;<br>To gratify her wish, which seemed to vex,<br>And converse be allowed with t'other sex:<br>Hippocrates, howe'er, more plainly speaks,<br>No circumlocutory phrase he seeks.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O JESUS! quite abashed the Abbess cried;<br>What is it?--fy!--a man would you provide?<br>Yes, they rejoined, 'tis clearly what you want,<br>And you will die without a brisk gallant;<br>One truly able will alone suffice;<br>And, if not such, take two we would advise.<br>This still was worse, though, if we rightly guess,<br>'Twas by her wished, durst she the truth confess.<br>But how the sisterhood would see her take<br>Such remedies and no objection make?<br>Shame often causes injury and pain;<br>And ills concealed bring others in their train.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SAID sister Agnes, Madam, take their word;<br>A remedy like this would be absurd,<br>If, like old death, it had a haggard look,<br>And you designed to get by hook or crook.<br>A hundred secrets you retain at ease;<br>Can one so greatly shock and you displease?--<br>You talk at random, Agnes, she replied;<br>Now, would you for the remedy decide,<br>Upon your word, if you were in my place?--<br>Yes, madam, said the nun, and think it grace;<br>Still more I'd do, if necessary thought;<br>Your health, by me, would ev'ry way be sought,<br>And, if required by you to suffer this,<br>Not one around would less appear remiss;<br>Sincere affection for you I have shown,<br>And my regard I'll ever proudly own.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A THOUSAND thanks the Abbess gave her friend;<br>The doctors said:--no use for them to send;<br>Throughout the convent sad distress appeared;<br>When Agnes, who to sage advice adhered,<br>And was not thought the weakest head around,<br>A kinder soul perhaps could not be found,<br>Said to the sisterhood,--What now retains<br>Our worthy Abbess, and her will enchains,<br>Is nothing but the shame of pow'rs divine,<br>Or else, to what's prescribed she would resign.<br>Through charity will no one take the lead,<br>And, by example, get her to proceed?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE counsel was by ev'ry one approved,<br>And commendation through the circle moved.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IN this design not one, nor grave, nor old,<br>Nor young, nor prioress, at all seemed cold;<br>Notes flew around, and friends of worth and taste,<br>The black, the fair, the brown, appeared in haste;<br>The number was not small, our records say,<br>Not (what might be) appearance of delay,<br>But all most anxious seemed the road to show,<br>And what the Abbess feared, at once to know;<br>None more sincerely 'mong the nuns desired,<br>That shame should not prevent what was required.<br>Nor that the Abbess should, within her soul,<br>Retain what might injuriously control.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">NO sooner one among the flock had made<br>The step, of which the Abbess was afraid,<br>But other sisters followed in the train:--<br>Not one behind consented to remain;<br>Each forward pressed, in dread to be the last;<br>At length, from prejudice the Abbess passed;<br>To such examples she at last gave way,<br>And, to a youth, no longer offered nay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE operation o'er, her lily face<br>Resumed the rose, and ev'ry other grace.<br>O remedy divine, prescription blessed!<br>Thy friendly aid to numbers stands confessed;<br>The friends of thousands, friend of nature too;<br>The friend of all, except where honour 's due.<br>This point of honour is another ill,<br>In which the faculty confess no skill.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHAT ills in life! what mis'ries dire around,<br>While remedies so easy may be found!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=La+Fontaine">La Fontaine</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431393" data-title="The Sick Abbess de La Fontaine" data-description="EXAMPLE often proves of sov'reign use;
At other times it cherishes abuse;
'Tis not my purpose, howsoe'er, to tell
Which of the two I fancy to excel.
Some will conceive the Abbess acted right,
While others think her conduct very light
Be that as 't..."></div>
</div>
</div>