Nor am I without precedent,
The first that on th' adventure went; All mankind ever did of course,
And daily does the same, or worse. For what romance can show a lover, That had a lady to recover,
And did not steer a nearer course, To fall aboard in his amours?
And what at first was held a crime, Has turned to honourable in time.
To what a height did infant Rome, By ravishing of women, come? When men upon their spouses seized, 240 And freely married where they pleased, They ne'er forswore themselves, nor lied, Nor, in the mind they were in, died; Nor took the pains t' address and sue, Nor played the masquerade to woo: 245 Disdained to stay for friends' consents, Nor juggled about settlements; Did need no licence, nor no priest, Nor friends, nor kindred, to assist; Nor lawyers, to join land and money 250 In the holy state of matrimony, Before they settled hands and hearts, Till alimony or death departs; Nor would endure to stay, until Th' had got the very bride's good will, 255 But took a wise and shorter course To win the ladies-downright force; And justly made 'em prisoners then, As they have, often since, us men, With acting plays, and dancing jigs, 260 The luckiest of all love's intrigues;
And when they had them at their pleasure, They talked of love and flames at leisure; For after matrimony's over,
He that holds out but half a lover, 265 Deserves, for every minute, more Than half a year of love before; For which the dames, in contemplation Of that best way of application, Proved nobler wives than e'er were known,
270 By suit, or treaty, to be won;
And such as all posterity
Could never equal, nor come nigh.
For women first were made for men, Not men for them.-It follows, then, That men have right to every one, And they no freedom of their own;
And therefore men have power to choose, But they no charter to refuse. Hence 'tis apparent that what course 280 Soe'er we take to your amours, Though by the indirectest way, 'Tis no injustice or foul play;
And that you ought to take that course, As we take you, for better or worse, 285 And gratefully submit to those Who you, before another, chose. For why should every savage beast Exceed his great lord's interest? Have freer power than he, in grace And nature, o'er the creature has? Because the laws he since has made Have cut off all the power he had; Retrenched the absolute dominion That nature gave him over women;
295 When all his power will not extend
One law of nature to suspend ; And but to offer to repeal
The smallest clause, is to rebel. This, if men rightly understood
300 Their privilege, they would make good, And not, like sots, permit their wives T'encroach on their prerogatives, For which sin they deserve to be Kept, as they are, in slavery:
305 And this some precious gifted teachers, Unreverently reputed lechers,
And disobeyed in making love,
Have vowed to all the world to prove, And make ye suffer as you ought,
For that uncharitable fault:
But I forget myself, and rove Beyond th' instructions of my love. Forgive me, Fair, and only blame Th' extravagancy of my flame,
Since 'tis too much at once to show Excess of love and temper too;
All I have said that's bad and true, Was never meant to aim at you, Who have so sovereign a control
O'er that poor slave of yours, my soul. That, rather than to forfeit you,
Has ventured loss of heaven too; Both with an equal power possest, To render all that serve you blest; 325 But none like him who's destined either To have or lose you both together;
And if you'll but this fault release, For so it must be, since you please,
I'll pay down all that vow, and more, Which commanded, and I swore, And expiate, upon my skin,
Th' arrears in full of all my sin: For 'tis but just that I should pay Th' accruing penance for delay,
Which shall be done, until it move Your equal pity and your love.
The knight, perusing this epistle, Believed h' had brought her to his whistle, And read it, like a jocund lover, 340 With great applause, t' himself, twice over; Subscribed his name, but at a fit And humble distance, to his wit; And dated it with wondrous art, 'Given from the bottom of his heart;' 345 Then sealed it with his coat of love, A smoking faggot-and above, Upon a scroll-'I burn, and weep'- And near it 'for her Ladyship, Of all her sex most excellent,
350 These to her gentle hands present.' Then gave it to his faithful squire, With lessons how t' observe, and eye her. She first considered which was better,
To send it back, or burn the letter: 355 But guessing that it might import, Though nothing else, at least her sport, She opened it, and read it out,
With many a smile and leering flout; Resolved to answer it in kind;
360 And thus performed what she designed.
LADY'S ANSWER TO THE KNIGHT.
THAT you're a beast, and turned to grass, Is no strange news, nor ever was,
At least to me, who once, you know, Did from the pound replevin you,
5 When both your sword and spurs were won In combat, by an Amazon ;
That sword that did, like fate, determine Th' inevitable death of vermin,
And never dealt its furious blows,
10 But cut the throats of pigs and cows, By Trulla was, in single fight, Disarmed and wrested from its knight, Your heels degraded of your spurs, And in the stocks close prisoners; 15 Where still they'd lain, in base restraint, If I, in pity of your complaint,
Had not, on honourable conditions, Released 'em from the worst of prisons; And what return that favour met, 20 You cannot, though you would, forget; When being free, you strove t'evade The oaths you had in prison made; Forswore yourself, and first denied it, But after owned, and justified it;
« PreviousContinue » |