T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Way to Win Her
By Thomas DUrfey the Younger(From The Rattle, c. 1766) YE Swains who roam from fair to fair, | |
And strive each heart to bind, | |
Give ear to what I now declare | |
The precepts of a friend. | |
Would you in Venus wars succeed, | 5 |
Of bashfulness be sure take heed, | |
And that’s the Way to Win her. | |
When first you meet the blooming lass, | |
More ripe than peach or pear, | |
Let not the minutes idly pass, | 10 |
Of dull delays beware: | |
With kisses sweet your flame confess, | |
Her panting snowy bosom press, | |
And that’s the Way to Win her. | |
But should the crafty nymph prove coy, | 15 |
Cry “Fye, Sir, you are rude,” | |
Let not those arts you[r] hopes destroy, | |
By nature all are lewd. | |
Then shilly shally never stand, | |
But boldly march up sword in hand | 20 |
And that’s the Way to Win her. | |
And when love’s fire you have fann’d, | |
And she begins to melt, | |
And finds her virtue can’t withstand | |
The raptures she has felt; | 25 |
Then gently force her to the sport | |
With resolution storm the fort, | |
And that’s the Way to Win her. | |