To One saying she was Old

ELL me not Time hath played the

Upon her beauty! my belief

Might have been mock'd, and I have

An heretic, if I had not seen,
My Mistress is still fair to me,

And now I all those graces see

That did adorn her virgin brow: Her eye hath the same flame in's now To kill or save, - the chemist's fire Equally burns, so my desire;

Not any rosebud less within

Her cheek; the same snow on her chin;
Her voice that heavenly music bears

First charmed my soul, and in my ears

To One saying she was Old

Did leave it trembling; her lips are
The self-same lovely twins they were;-
Often so many years I miss

No flower in all my Paradise;

Time, I despise thy rage and thee,-
Thieves do not always thrive, I see.

Description of Castara

IKE the violet, which alone
Prospers in some happy shade;
My Castara lives unknowne,
To no looser eye betray'd,

For shee's to herselfe untrue,

Who delights i' th' publicke view.

Such is her beauty, as no arts
Have enriched with borrowed grace,
Her high birth no pride imparts,
For she blushes in her place.
Folly boasted a glorious blood,

She is noblest being good.

Description of Castara

Cautious, she knew never yet
What a wanton courtship meant ;
Nor speaks bond to boast her wit,
In her silence eloquent.

Of herself survey she takes

But 'tweene men no difference makes.

She obeys with speedy will

Her grave parents' wise commands,
And so innocent that ill,

She nor acts, nor understands.

Women's feet runne still astray,
If once to ill they know the way.

She sails by that rocke, the court,
Where oft honour splits her mast:
And retir'dnesse thinks the port
Where her fame may anchor cast.
Vertue safely cannot sit

Where vice is enthron'd for wit.

She holds that day's pleasure best,
Where sin waits not on delight;

Description of Castara

Without maske, or ball, or feast,
Sweetly spends a winter's night.

O'er that darknesse, whence is thrust
Prayer and sleepe, oft governs lust.

She her throne makes reason climbe,
While wild passions captive lie;
And each article of time

Her pure thoughts to Heaven flie:
All her vowes religious be,

All her love she vowes to me.