William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Song: ‘Ladies, though to your conquering eyes’Sir George Etherege (1635?–1691)
L
Love owes his chiefest victories,
And borrows those bright arms from you
With which he does the world subdue,
Yet you yourselves are not above
The empire nor the griefs of love.
Lest Love on you revenge their pain:
You are not free because you’re fair:
The Boy did not his Mother spare.
Beauty’s but an offensive dart:
It is no armour for the heart.