William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Those Arts Which Common Beauties MoveJohn Oldmixon (16731742)
T
Corinna, you despise:
You think there’s nothing wise in love
Or eloquent in sighs.
You laugh at ogle, cant, and song,
And promises abuse:
But say—for I have courted long—
What methods shall I use?
Nor talk of dart and flame;
But sometimes you can think it fit
To smile at what you blame.
Your sex’s forms, which you disown,
Alas! you can’t forbear;
But in a minute smile and frown,
Are tender and severe.
No more your arts pursue,
Unless you suffer me to be
As whimsical as you.
At last the vain dispute desist,
To love resign the field:
’Twas custom forced you to resist,
And custom bids you yield.