Don Juan 01-175
Canto the First

CLXXV

Julia said nought; though all the while there rose
     A ready answer, which at once enables
A matron, who her husband's foible knows,
     By a few timely words to turn the tables,
Which, if it does not silence, still must pose,-
     Even if it should comprise a pack of fables;
'T is to retort with firmness, and when he
Suspects with one, do you reproach with three.

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) ByronLong