And therefore 't is no wonder if we see But veil with some extenuating name. 151 If she says nothing, to be sure she's wise. Is call'd a pretty, tight, and slender maid; 160 The task were endless all the rest to trace; Yet grant she were a Venus for her face And shape, yet others equal beauty share, And time was you could live without the fair; She does no more, in that for which you Woo, Then homelier women full as well can do. Meantime, excluded, and expos'd to cold, And printing kisses on th' obdurate door; 181 And hide their nastiness behind the scenes, From him they have allur'd, and would retain; But to a piercing eye 't is all in vain: For common sense brings all their cheats to view, And the false light discovers by the true; Which a wise harlot owns, and hopes to To bless the show'ry seed with future life, To oracles, or magic numbers try; Nor pierces to the parts, nor, tho' injected home, Will mingle with the kindly moisture of the womb. For nuptials are unlike in their success; Some men with fruitful seed some women bless, And from some men some women fruitful are, Just as their constitutions join or jar: And to perform the sapless husband's part. breed; And thick with thin, and thin with thick should join, 270 So to produce and propagate the line. For in that posture will they best conceive; Not when, supinely laid, they frisk and heave; For active motions only break the blow, And more of strumpets than of wives they show, 280 When, answering stroke with stroke, the mingled liquors flow. Endearments eager, and too brisk a bound, Throws off the plowshare from the furrow'd ground. Betwixt two sheets thou shalt enjoy her bare, With whom no Grecian virgin can compare; So soft, so sweet, so balmy, and so fair. So, when the night and winter disappear, So beauteous Helen shines among the rest, Tall, slender, straight, with all the graces blest. As pines the mountains, or as fields the Our noblest maids shall to thy name bequeath 70 The boughs of lotos, form'd into a wreath. This monument, thy maiden beauties' due, High on a plane tree shall be hung to view; On the smooth rind the passenger shall see Thy name ingrav'd, and worship Helen's tree; Balm, from a silver box distill'd around, Shall all bedew the roots, and scent the sacred ground. The balm, 't is true, can aged plants prolong, But Helen's name will keep it ever young. "Hail bride, hail bridegroom, son-in-law to Jove! 80 With fruitful joys Latona bless your love! Let Venus furnish you with full desires, Add vigor to your wills, and fuel to your fires! Almighty Jove augment your wealthy store, Give much to you, and to his grandsons His person hated, and his gifts despis'd; So she, to shun his toils, her cares imploy'd, And fiercely in her savage freedom joy'd. Her mouth she writh'd, her forehead taught Trembling before her bolted doors he stood, And there pour'd out th' unprofitable flood: Staring his eyes, and haggard was his look; Then, kissing first the threshold, thus he spoke: "Ah, nymph, more cruel than of human race! Thy tigress heart belies thy angel face: Too well thou show'st thy pedigree from stone; Thy grandame's was the first by Pyrrha thrown: Unworthy thou to be so long desir'd; Betwixt my ling'ring love and loathsome life: This moment puts an end to all my pain; I shall no more despair, nor thou disdain. |