The Bride | Page 5

widdowes
to put tricks vpon.
We would reuenge the crafty double dealing,
Thousands of
harmelesse virgins doe endure,
By their deceitfull art of kinde-hart
stealing,
Keeping our loues vnto our selues secure:
And credit to their vowes, should be no other,
But in at one eare, and
goe out at t'other.
Bride.
This you would doe, and y'are in that minde now,
But I perswade me
tis but rashly spoken,
And therefore Mary make no foolish vow,

For if you doe in conscience t'will be broken:
Say you doe meane to keepe you free from man,
But to be sure, still
put in If you can.
Or else you may presume aboue your power,
Twixt words and deedes,
great difference often growes,
You may be taken such a louing hower,

Your heart may all be Cupids to dispose:
Then vve shall haue you sicke, & pine and grieue,
And nothing but a
husband can relieue.
Aske but your 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