| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Aphra Behn. 1640–1689 |
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| 412. The Libertine |
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| A THOUSAND martyrs I have made, | |
| All sacrificed to my desire, | |
| A thousand beauties have betray'd | |
| That languish in resistless fire: | |
| The untamed heart to hand I brought, | 5 |
| And fix'd the wild and wand'ring thought. | |
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| I never vow'd nor sigh'd in vain, | |
| But both, tho' false, were well received; | |
| The fair are pleased to give us pain, | |
| And what they wish is soon believed: | 10 |
| And tho' I talk'd of wounds and smart, | |
| Love's pleasures only touch'd my heart. | |
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| Alone the glory and the spoil | |
| I always laughing bore away; | |
| The triumphs without pain or toil, | 15 |
| Without the hell the heaven of joy; | |
| And while I thus at random rove | |
| Despise the fools that whine for love. | |
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