| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | Amoret | | By William Congreve (1670–1729) |
| | | FAIR Amoret is gone astray: | |
| Pursue and seek her, every lover! | |
| I’ll tell the signs by which you may | |
| The wandering shepherdess discover. | |
| |
| Coquet and coy at once her air, | 5 |
| Both studied, though both seem neglected; | |
| Careless she is, with artful care, | |
| Affecting to seem unaffected. | |
| |
| With skill her eyes dart every glance, | |
| Yet change so soon you’d ne’er suspect them; | 10 |
| For she’d persuade they wound by chance, | |
| Though certain aim and art direct them. | |
| |
| She likes herself, yet others hates | |
| For that which in herself she prizes; | |
| And while she laughs at them, forgets | 15 |
| She is the thing she despises. | | | | |
|
|
