Page images
PDF
EPUB

Know this,

Thou lov'st amiss,

And, to love true,

Thou must begin again, and love anew.

If, when she appears i' th' room,

Thou dost not quake, and art struck dumb,

And in striving this to cover

Dost not speak thy words twice over;

Know this,

Thou lov'st amiss,

And, to love true,

Thou must begin again, and love anew.

If fondly thou dost not mistake,

And all defects for graces take ;

Persuad'st thyself that jests are broken, When she hath little or nothing spoken; Know this,

Thou lov'st amiss,

And, to love true,

Thou must begin again, and love anew.

If when thou appear'st to be within,
Thou lett'st not men ask, and ask again,
And, when thou answer'st, if it be
To what was ask'd thee properly;

Know this,

Thou lov'st amiss,

And, to love true,

Thou must begin again, and love anew.

If when thy stomach calls to eat,
Thou cutt'st not fingers 'stead of meat;
And, with much gazing on her face,

Dost not rise hungry from the place;
Know this,

Thou lov'st amiss,

And, to love true,

Thou must begin again, and love anew.

If by this thou dost discover

That thou art no perfect lover;

And, desiring to love true,

Thou dost begin to love anew;

Know this,

Thou lov'st amiss,

And, to love true,

Thou must begin again, and love anew.

'Tis now, since I sat down before

That foolish fort, a heart,

(Time strangely spent!) a year and more,

And still I did my part:

Made my approaches, from her hand

Unto her lip did rise;

And did already understand

The language of her eyes:

Proceeded on with no less art;
(My tongue was engineer ;)
I thought to undermine the heart
By whispering in the ear.

When this did nothing, I brought down Great cannon oaths, and shot

A thousand thousand to the town,

And still it yielded not.

I then resolv'd to starve the place,
By cutting off all kisses,
Praising and gazing on her face,

And all such little blisses.

To draw her out and from her strength,

I drew all batteries in ;

And brought myself to lie, at length,
As if no siege had been.

When I had done what man could do,
And thought the place mine own,
The enemy lay quiet too,

And smil'd at all was done.

I sent to know, from whence, and where,
These hopes and this relief?

A spy inform'd, Honour was there,

And did command in chief.

"March, march," quoth I; "the word straight give,

"Let's lose no time, but leave her;

"That giant upon air will live,

"And hold it out for ever.

"To such a place our camp remove
"As will no siege abide;
"I hate a fool that starves her love,
"Only to feed her pride."

A Ballad upon a Wedding.*

I TELL thee, Dick, where I have been,
Where I the rarest things have seen;

* Occasioned by the marriage of Roger Boyle, the first earl of Orrery (then Lord Broghill), with lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the carl of Suffolk.

Oh! things without compare ! Such sights again cannot be found In any place on English ground, Be it at wake or fair.

At Charing-cross, hard by the way
Where we (thou know'st) do sell our hay,
There is a house with stairs;

And there did I see coming down

Such folk as are not in our town,

Forty at least, in pairs.

Amongst the rest, one pest❜lent fine
(His beard no bigger though than thine)
Walk'd on before the rest:

Our landlord looks like nothing to him;
The king, (God bless him!) 'twould undo him,
Should he go still
so drest.

At course-a-park, without all doubt,
He should have first been taken out
By all the maids i' th' town;
Though lusty Roger there had been,
Or little George upon the green,

Or Vincent of the Crown.

But, wot you what? the youth was going
To make an end of all his wooing;

« PreviousContinue »