T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Wert Thou but Half So Wise As Thou Art Fair
Anonymous(A Song from Westminster Drolleries, 1671–2) |
WERT thou but half so wise as thou art fair, | |
Thou would’st not need such courting, | |
’Twill prove a loss you’ll ne’er repair, | |
Should you still defer your sporting. | |
This peevish shall I, shall I, you’ll repent, | 5 |
When your spring is over, | |
Beauties after-math—no kind friends hath | |
To gratify a Lover! | |
Perhaps you may think ’tis a sin to deal, | |
Till Hymen doth authorize you: | 10 |
Though the Gods themselves sweet pleasure steal, | |
That to coyness thus advise you. | |
Pox upon the Link-boy and his Taper, | |
I’ll kiss, although not have you, | |
’Twas an Eunuch wrote all the Text that you quote, | 15 |
And the Ethics that enslave you. | |
I am sure you have heard of that sprightly Dame | |
That with Mars so often traded, | |
Had the God but thought she had been to blame, | |
She had surely been degraded. | 20 |
Nor is blind Cupid less esteemed | |
For the sly tricks on his Mother, | |
For men do adore that Son of a Whore, | |
As much as any other. | |
’Tis plain antiquity doth lie | 25 |
Which made Lucretia squeamish; | |
For that which you call Chastity, | |
Upon her left a blemish: | |
For when her Paramour grew weak, | |
Her passion waxed stronger, | 30 |
For the Lecherous Drab her self did stab | |
’Cause Tarquin staid no longer. | |
Then away with this Bugbear Vice, | |
You are lost if that you fly me, | |
In Elysium (if you here are nice) | 35 |
You never shall come nigh me: | |
Hell for Vestals is a Cloister | |
I don’t run doting thither, | |
For the pleasant shades are for her that trades: | |
Let’s truck and go together. | 40 |