| |
| MEN write that love and reason disagree, | |
| But I ne’er saw ’t express’d as ’tis in thee. | |
| Well, I may lead thee, God must make thee see, | |
| But, thine eyes blind too, there’s no hope for thee. | |
| Thou say’st she’s wise and witty, fair and free; | 5 |
| All these are reasons why she should scorn thee. | |
| Thou dost protest thy love, and wouldst it show | |
| By matching her as she would match her foe; | |
| And wouldst persuade her to a worse offence, | |
| Than that whereof thou didst accuse her wench. | 10 |
| Reason there’s none for thee, but thou mayst vex | |
| Her with example. Say, for fear her sex | |
| Shun her, she needs must change; I do not see | |
| How reason e’er can bring that ‘must’ to thee. | |
| Thou art a match a justice to rejoice, | 15 |
| Fit to be his, and not his daughter’s choice. | |
| Urged 1 with his threats she’d scarcely stay with thee, | |
| And wouldst thou have this to choose thee, being free? | |
| Go, then, and punish some soon-gotten stuff; | |
| For her dead husband this hath mourn’d enough, | 20 |
| In hating thee. Thou mayst one like this meet; | |
| For spite take her, prove kind, make thy breath sweet, | |
| Let her see she hath cause, and, to bring to thee | |
| Honest children, let her dishonest be. | |
| If she be a widow I’ll warrant her | 25 |
| She’ll thee before her first husband prefer, | |
| And will wish thou hadst had her maidenhead, | |
| She’ll love thee so! for then thou hadst been dead. | |
| But thou such strong love and weak reasons hast, | |
| Thou must thrive there, or ever live disgraced. | 30 |
| Yet pause awhile; and thou mayst live to see | |
| A time to come, wherein she may beg thee. | |
| If thou’lt not pause nor change, she’ll beg thee now, | |
| Do what she can, love for nothing she’ll allow. | |
| Besides, here were too much gain and merchandise, | 35 |
| And when thou art rewarded, desert dies. | |
| Now thou hast odds of him she loves; he may doubt | |
| Her constancy, but none can put thee out. | |
| Again, be thy love true, she’ll prove divine, | |
| And in the end the good on’t will be thine. | 40 |
| For, though thou must ne’er think of other love, | |
| And so wilt advance her as high above | |
| Virtue, as cause above effect can be; | |
| ’Tis virtue to be chaste, which she’ll make thee. | |
