| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | Ladies, Farewell, I Must Retire | | By James Howard (c. 1640–1669) |
| | | LADIES, 1 farewell, I must retire: | |
| Though I your faces all admire | |
| And think you heavens in your kinds, | |
| Some for beauties, some for minds; | |
| If I stay and fall in love, | 5 |
| One of these heavens hell would prove. | |
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| Could I know one and she not know it, | |
| Perhaps I then might undergo it; | |
| But if the least she guess my mind, | |
| Straight in a circle I’m confined: | 10 |
| By this I see who once doth dote | |
| Must wear a woman’s livery coat. | |
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| Therefore, this danger to prevent, | |
| And still to keep my heart’s content, | |
| Into the country I’ll with speed, | 15 |
| With hounds and hawks my fancy feed: | |
| Both safer pleasures to pursue | |
| Than staying to converse with you. | |
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