But, lik a froward child, at meals too great, He cry'd for want of ftomach, not of meat. Sir Francis Fane's Sacrifice.
VIRGINITY.
1. Is it not politick in the common-wealth Of nature, to preserve virginity. Lofs of virginity is national increaf;
And there was never virgin got, till virginity Was first loft. Virginity, by being
Once loft, may be ten times found: by being Ever kept, it is ever loft; 'tis too Cold a companion, away with it. 2. I will ftand for it a little, though Therefore I die a virgin.
1. There's little can be faid in it: 'tis 'gainft The rule of nature. To fpeak on the part Of virginity, is to accufe your mother; Which is moft infallible difobedience. He that hangs himself is a virgin: Virginity murthers itself, and fhould Be bury'd in highways, out of all fanctify'd Limits, as a defp'rate offendrefs against Nature. Virginity breeds mites; much like A cheese, confumes it felf to the very Paring, and fo dies with feeding its own Stomach. Befides virginity's peevish, Proud, idle, made of felf-love, which is the Most prohibited fin in the canon.
Keep it not, you cannot chufe but lose by't. Out with't; within ten months it will make it Self two, which is a goodly increase, and The principal it felf not much the worse. Tis a commodity will lose the glofs
With lying. The longer kept, the less worth: Off with't whilft 'tis vendible.
Time of request. Virginity, like an Old courtier, wears her cap out of fashion; Richly futed, but unfutable; juft like
The brooch and the tooth-pick, which we wear not Now; your date is better in your pye and your Porridge, than in your cheek; and your virginity, Your old virginity is like one of our
French wither'd pears; it looks ill, it eats dryly; Marry, tis a wither'd pear: 'twas formerly Better; marry, yet 'tis a wither'd pear.
Will you any thing with it?
Shakespear's All's Well that ends Well.
1. What an honeft work it would be, when we find A virgin in her poverty and youth,
Inclining to be tempted, to employ
As much perfwafion, and as much expence
To keep her upright, as men ufe to do upon her falling. 2. Tis charity, that many maids will be unthankful for; And fome will rather take it for a wrong,
To buy them out of their inheritance,
The thing that they were born to.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Honeft Man's Fortune. That which thy lafcivious will doth crave,
Which if once had, thou never more canft have; Which if thou get, in getting thon doft waste it, Taken is loft, and perif'd if thou haft it: Which if thou gain't, thou ne'er the more haft won I lofing nothing, yet am quite undone :
And yet of that, if that a king deprave me, No king reflores, though he a kingdom gave me.
Drayton's Matilda to King John. A treafure 'tis, able to make more thieves
'Than cabinets fet open to entice;
Which learn them theft, that never knew the vice. Thomas Middleton's Mayor of Quinborough.
'There's a cold curfe laid upon all maids;
Whilst others clip the fun, they clafp the shades. Virginity is paradife lock'd up;
You cannot come by yourfelves without fee,
And 'twas decreed that man fhould keep the key.
Tourneur's Revenger's Tragedy.
If maidens would, mens words could have no pow'r ; A virgin honour is a cryftal tow'r,
Which being weak, is guarded with good fpirits ; Until the bafely yields, no ill inherits.
Tourneur's Revenger's Tragedy. One is no number; maids are nothing then Without the sweet fociety of men.
Wilt thou live fingle ftill? one fhalt thou be, Though never fingling Hymen couple thee. Wild favages that drink of running fprings, Think water far excels all other things: But they that daily take neat wine defpife it. Virginity albeit fome highly prize it,
Compar'd with marriage, had you try'd them both, Differs as much as wine and water doth.
Cook's Green's Tuquoque. Your home's your cloifter, your best friends, your beads; Your chaft and fingle life thall crown your birth, Who dies a virgin, lives a faint on earth.
Then farewel world, and worldly thoughts adieu, Welcome chafte vows, my felf I yield to you!
John Ford's Tis pity fhe is a Whore.
The freedom that a virgin hath,
Is much to be preferr'd; who would endure The humours of fo excellent a thing As is a husband? which of all the herd, Runs not poffefs'd with fome notorious vice, Drinking or whoring, fighting, jealousy, Ev'n of a page at twelve, or of a groom That rubs horfes heels? is it not daily feen, Men take wives but to drefs their meat, to wash And ftarch their linnen? for the other matter Of lying with them, that's but when they please ; And whatfoe'er the joy be of the bed,
The pangs that follow procreation
Are hideous, or you wives have gull'd your husbands With your loud fhriekings, and your deathful throes.
Field's Amends for Ladies. M 4 1. What
2. Sir, I am a chambermaid. 1. What are you damn'd for? 2. Not for revealing
My mistress fecrets, for I kept them better Than mine own; but keeping my maiden- Head till it was ftale, I am condemned To lead apes in hell.
1. Alafs, poor wench! upon condition You will be wife hereafter, and not refuse Gentlemens proffers; learn pride ev'ry day, And painting; beftow a courtesy now And then upon the apparitor to
Keep council, I release you; take your apes And monkeys away with you, and bestow
Them on gentlemen and ladies that want play-fellows.
Shirley's School of Compliments.
Virginity is but a fingle good,
A happiness, which like a mifer's wealth, Is as from others, fo from your own use, Lock'd up, and closely cabin'd, fince it not admits Communication of it's good; when you Shall, in the ftate of marriage, freely taste Nature's choice pleafures, the fame happiness You were created for.
Glapthorne's Albertus Wallenftein. Tho' you Diana like, have liv'd fill chaft, Yet muft you not, fair, dye a maid at last : The rofes on your cheeks were never made To blefs the eye alone, and fo to fade ; Nor had the cherrys on your lips their being, To please no other fenfe than that of feeing: You were not made to look on, tho' that be A blifs too great for poor mortality: In that alone thofe rarer parts you have, To better ufes fure wife nature gave, Than that you put them to: to love, to wed, For Hymen's rites, and for the marriage bed
You were ordain'd, and not to lie alone; One is no number, 'till that two be one.
See ev'ry thing that we efpy
Is fruitful, faving you and I :
View all the fields, furvey the bow'rs, The buds, the bloffoms, and the flow'rs; And fay if they fo rich could be
In barren base virginity. Earth's not fo coy as you are now, But willingly admits the plow: For how had man or beast been fed, If she had kept her maidenhead ?
Maids nays are nothing; they are shy, But to defire what they deny.
1. What if I have folemnly protested To live and dye a virgin?
As folemnly break that oath; fuch temerarious And imprudent vows are better broke than Kept; for none can by an ordinary way Perceive, whether they have that special gift Of continency, as to be able to live
And dye unmarry'd. What woman hath fo Sail'd about the world of her own heart, Sounded each creek, furvey'd each corner, but That ftill there may remain much terra incognita To herfelf? befides, concupifcences
Too much reftrain'd will fwell the more; had Danae not been kept in a brazen door, She had dy'd a harmless virgin, not a whore.
She be a virgin, alas poor green thing what Is fhe good for! why to fteal goofeberrys, And eat young apricots in May, before
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