1Who can but pity this poor turtledove,
2Which was so kind and constant to her love?
3And, since his death, his loss she
doth deplore
; 4For his dear sake she’ll never couple
more. 5When others’ wanton
blood doth nimbly flow, 6Warmed with the spring, hers then runs cool and slow.
7Nor Valentine, though ’tis a tempting tide
, 8Can make her say
her chaste resolve’s aside
— 9Not like that wanton and licentious
bird
10Who, losing one
, a second, and a third, 11Like that prodigious, bedlam, Belgic beast
, 12Who had a score
of husbands at the least: 13A bitter thralldom
she deserves to have, 14Who, being freed so oft, would be a slave!
15Shame of her sex!
O, let her loathéd name 16Be ne’er enrolléd in the book of fame
; 17But let Alcestis’s
and Artimitius’s
story 18Be still remembered to her endless glory.
19Some Deborahs
and Annas
sure have been, 20But in this age of ours, few such are seen.
21Then, ladies, imitate this turtledove,
22And constant be unto one only love.
23Then if your husbands rant it
high, and game
, 24Be sure you double not their guilt and shame!
25Leave off Hyde Park, Hanes
, Oxford John’s and Kate
26Spring, Mulberry Garden
: let them have a date
. 27Buy not these follies at so dear
a rate. 28These places, I know only by their names,
29But ’tis these places which do blast your fames
. 30Who would with their dear reputation part
31To eat a scurvy
cheesecake or a tart? 32For such poor follies who abroad would roam?
33Have we not better every day at home?
34They say, to plays and taverns some do go;
35I say, no modest ladies will do so.
36Though countess, duchess, or Protector’s daughter
37Those places haunt, their follies run not after
. 38Be modest then, and follow mine advice:
39You’ll find that virtue’s pleasanter than vice.
40Yet anchorites
I would not have you turn, 41Nor halcyons
, nor be your husband’s urn
; 42But chastely live, and rather spend your days
43In setting forth your great Creator’s praise;
44And, for diversion, pass your idle times
45As I do now, in writing harmless rhymes.
46Then, for your honors’ and your fair souls’ sake,
47Both my example and my counsel take.
48In fine
, love God, the fountain of all good, 49Next those ahead by marriage, grace, and blood,
50To let’s live here, in chaste and virtuous love,
51As we’ll go on eternally above
. 52Then O, my God, assist me with Thy grace,
53That, when I die, I may but change my place.