Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

Song: ‘Still to be neat, still to be drest’ (from Epicæne)

[From Epicæne; or, The Silent Woman, Act I, Sc. 1; 1609.]

STILL to be neat, still to be drest,

As you were going to a feast;

Still to be powdered, still perfumed:

Lady, it is to be presumed,

Though art’s hid causes are not found,

All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a look, give me a face,

That makes simplicity a grace;

Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:

Such sweet neglect more taketh me

Than all the adulteries of art:

They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.