The Bride | Page 5

elders that are gone before,?And the'le say marry maide as we haue done,?Twixt twelue and twenty open loue the doore,?And say you vvere not borne to liue a Nonne:
Vnperfect female, liuing odde you are,?Neuer true euen, till you match and paire.
Iust-Nature at the first this course did take,?Woman and man deuided were in twaine,?But by vniting both did sweetely make,?Deuisions blisse contenfull to remaine,
Which well made lawe of Nature and of kinde,?To matters reasonles doe nothing binde.
Nothing vnfit, nothing vniust to doe,?But all in order orderly consisting,?Then what seeme they that wil not ioine their two?And so be one, without vnkinde resisting:
Surely no other censure passe I can,?But she's halfe woman liues without a man.
One, that depriues her selfe of whats her right,?Borne vnto care, and ignorant of ease,?A lustlesse liuing thing, without delight,?One, whom vnpleasantnesse best seemes to please:
Depriu'd of lifes sweete ioy, from kind remoued,?Of worthlesse parts, vnworthy to be loued.
Who will in paine pertake with such a one,?(Whom we may most vnhappy creature call,)?Who will assist her, when her griefe makes mone,?Or who vphold her if she chance to fall:
The burthen one doth beare is light to two,?For twisted cordes are hardest to vndoe.
The loue and ioy doth absolute remaine,?That in posteritie is fixed fast,?For thou in children art new borne againe,?When yeeres haue brought thee to thy breath-spent last:
Those oliue plants, shall from each other spring,?Till Times full period endeth euery thing.
This being thus, what sencelesse girles you be,?To iustifie a life not worth embracing,?Opposing silly maiden wits gainst me,?That will not yeelde an ynch to your out-facing:
For were heere present all the maydes in towne,?With marriage reasons I would put them down.
Prudence.
Kinke sisters all, now I haue heard the Bride,?Will you haue my opinion, not to flatter,?Sure I am turning to the wedding side,?I heare such good sound reason for the matter:
Let Grace_, _Doll_, _Besse_, and _Susan_, _Mary_, _Iane, Leade apes in hell, I am not of their vaine.
As sure as death ile ioyne my selfe with man,?For I perswade me tis a happy life,?Ile be a Bride vvith all the speede I can,?It's vvonder how I long to be a vvife:?Grace heer's good counsell, had you grace to take it
Susan_ tis sound, oh _Besse doe not forfake it.
Good husband-men vve see doe euer vse,?To chuse for forfit those that breede the best,?And none vvill keepe bad breeders that can chuse,?Euen so your fowlers that often brood the nest,
Are most esteem'd, & their kinds worthiest thoght?All barren things, by all are counted nought.
Who plantes an orchard vvith vnfruitfull trees,?None but a madman so vvill vvast his ground,?Or vvho sowes corne vvhere onely sand he sees,?Assured that there vvill no increase be found:
And in a vvord all that the vvorld containes,?Haue excellence in their begetting gaines.
For my part therefore I resolue me thus,?Vnto the purpose I was borne, ile liue,?All maydes are fooles that vvill not ioyne vvith vs,?And vnto men their right of marriage giue:
Most vvorthy Bride, here is my hand and vow,?I loue a man in heart, as vvell as thou.
Francis.
Prudence, I am of your opinion iust,?A vvif's farre better than a matchlesse maide,?Ile stay no longer virgin then needes must,?The law of Nature ought to be obayde:
Either vve must haue inward loue to men,?Or else beare hate, and so be brutish then.
Doth not the vvorld instruct vs this by others,?That vvedlocke is a remedy for sinne,?Shall vve be vviser then our reuerent mothers,?That married, or we all had bastards bin:
And ere our mothers lost their maiden Iemme,?Did not our grandhams euen as much for them.
From whence haue you the gift to liue vnwed,?Pray of what stuffe are your straight bodies made,?By what chast spirit was your nicenesse bred,?That seeme of flesh to be so purely stayde:
Are not all here made females for like ends,?Fye, fye for shame, disemble not with friends.
Ile tell you one thing which by proofe I knowe,?My mother had a cocke that vs'd to roame,?And all the hens would to our neighbours goe,?We could not keepe them for our liues at home:
Abroad they went, though we wold nere so saine?Vntill by chance we got our cocke againe.
And so my fathers pigeons in like sort,?Our matchlesse hens about would euer flye,?To paire with other doues they would resort,?(Pray laugh not Susan, for it is no lye)
I haue it not from other folkes relation,?But from mine owne, and mothers obseruation.
Susan.
I laugh that you compare vs to your hens,?Or straying pigions that abroad haue flowne,?To seeke about for cocks of other mens,?Because (you say) they wanted of their owne:
But Francke, though you like them be francke and free, You must not iudge all other so to be.
We doe not vse to hunt abroad for cockes,?But rather shun the places where they be,?The prouerbe sayes, let geese beware the fox,?Tis easie making prayes of