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

Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)

The Dance

LOVE, Reason, Hate, did once bespeak

Three mates to play at barley-break;

Love Folly took; and Reason, Fancy;

And Hate consorts with Pride; so dance they:

Love coupled last, and so it fell,

That Love and Folly were in hell.

They break, and Love would Reason meet,

But Hate was nimbler on her feet;

Fancy looks for Pride, and thither

Hies, and they two hug together:

Yet this new coupling still doth tell,

That Love and Folly were in hell.

The rest do break again, and Pride

Hath now got Reason on her side;

Hate and Fancy meet, and stand

Untouched by Love in Folly’s hand;

Folly was dull, but Love ran well;

So Love and Folly were in hell.