Which is of fuch thin fubtlety,

It steals and creeps in at the eye,

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And, as it can't endure to itay,

Steals out again as nice a way.

But love, that its extraction owns
From folid gold and precious ftones,
Muft, like its fhining parents, prove
As folid, and as glorious love.
Hence 'tis you have no way t' exprefs
Our charms and graces but by these ;
For what are lips, and eyes, and teeth,
Which beauty' invades and conquers with,
But rubies, pearls, and diamonds,
With which a philtre love commands?
This is the way all parents prove

In managing their children's love,
That force them t' intermarry and wed,
As if th' were burying of the dead;
Caft earth to earth, as in the grave,
To join in wedlock all they have,
And, when the fettlement 's in force,
Take all the reft for better or worse;
For money has a power above

The ftars, and fate, to manage love;
Whofe arrows, learned poets hold,
That never mifs, are tipp'd with gold..

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135

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And, though fome fay the parents' claims
To make love in their children's names;

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Who, many times, at once provide

The nurse, the husband, and the bride,
VOL. II.

K.

Feel

Feel darts, and charms, attracts, and flames,
And wooe and contract in their names,

And, as they chriften, use to marry them,

And, like their goffips, answer for them;
Is not to give in matrimony,

But fell and proftitute for money;

'Tis better than their own betrothing,

Who often do 't for worfe than nothing;
And, when they 're at their own dispose,
With greater disadvantage chufe.
All this is right; but, for the course
You take to do 't, by fraud or force,
'Tis fo ridiculous, as foon

As told, 'tis never to be done,

No more than fetters can betray,

That tell what tricks they are to play.
Marriage, at best, is but a vow,
Which all men either break or bow;
Then what will thofe forbear to do,
Who perjure when they do but wooe?
Such as beforehand fwear and lye,
For earnest to their treachery,

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145

150

155

160

And, rather than a crime confess,

With greater strive to make it less ?

Like thieves, who, after fentence past,
Maintain their innocence to the last ;
And, when their crimes were made appear,
As plain as witneffes can fwear,

Yet, when the wretches come to die,
Will take upon their death a lye.

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Nor

Nor are the virtues you confefs'd

T' your ghoftly father, as you guefs'd,

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So flight as to be justify'd,

By being as fhamefully deny'd;

As if you thought your word would pafs,
Point-blank, on both fides of a cafe;

Or credit were not to be loft

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B' a brave Knight-errant of the Poft,

That eats perfidiously his word,

And fwears his ears through a two-inch board;

Can own the fame thing, and difown,

And perjure booty pro and con ;

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Can make the Gospel ferve his turn,
And help him out, to be forfworn;
When 'tis laid hands upon, and kist,
To be betray'd and fold, like Christ.

Thefe

Ver. 183.] The way of taking an oath is by laying the right hand upon the four Evangelifts, which denominates it A corporal oath. This method was not always complied with in those iniquitous times. In the trial of Mr. Chriftopher Love, in the year 1651, one Jaquel, an evidence, laid his hand upon his buttons, and not upon the book, when the oath was tendered him; and, when he was queftioned for it, he answered, "I am as good as under an oath." In the trial of the brave Colonel Morrice (who kept Pontefract Castle for challenged at York, by Thorp and Pulefton, when he one Brook, his profeffed enemy, the Court anfwered, He spoke too late; Brook was fworn already. Brook being asked the question, whether he

the King)

K 2

were

Thefe are the virtues in whofe name

A right to all the world you claim,
And boldly challenge a dominion,
In Grace and Nature, o'er all women;
Of whom no lefs will fatisfy,

Than all the fex, your tyranny:

Although you'll find it a hard province,
With all your crafty frauds and coving,
Το govern
fuch a numerous crew,
Who, one by one, now govern you;
For, if you all were Solomons,

And wife and great as he was once,
You'll find they 're able to fubdue
(As they did him) and baffle you.
And if you are impos'd upon,
Tis by your own temptation done,
That with your ignorance invite,
And teach us how to use the fleight;
For, when we find ye 're still more taken
With falfe attracts of our own making,
Swear that's a rofe, and that 's a ftone,.
Like fots, to us that laid it on,
And, what we did but flightly prime,
Moft ignorantly daub in rhyme,
You force us, in our own defences,
To copy beams and influences;

were fworn or no, replied, "He had not yet kiffed the "book." The Court anfwered, That was no matter; it was but a ceremony; he was recorded fworn, and there was no fpeaking against a record.

And, in compliance to your wit,
Your own falfe jewels counterfeit :
For by the practice of those arts
We gain a greater fhare of hearts;
And thofe deferve in reafon most,
That greateft pains and ftudy coft:
For great perfections are, like heaven,
Too rich a prefent to be given.
Nor are thofe mafter-strokes of beauty
To be perform'd without hard duty,
Which, when they 're nobly done, and well,

The fimple natural excel.

How fair and fweet the planted rofe

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Beyond the wild in hedges grows!

For, without art, the nobleft feeds
Of flowers degenerate into weeds:
How dull and rugged, ere 'tis ground
And polish'd, looks a diamond?

230

Though women first were made for men,
Yet men were made for them again :

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