But fince those times and feats are over,
They are not for a modern lover,
When mistresses are too cross-grain'd,
By fuch addresses to be gain'd;
And if they were, would have it out
With many another kind of bout.
Therefore I hold no courfe s' infeasible,
As this of force, to win the Jezebel,
To storm her heart by th' antic charms
Of ladies errant, force of arms;
But rather strive by law to win her,
And try the title you have in her.
Your cafe is clear, you have her word,
And me to witness the accord;
Befides two more of her retinue
To testify what pass'd between you;
More probable, and like to hold,
Than hand, or feal, or breaking gold,
For which so many that renounc'd
Their plighted contracts have been trounc'd,
And bills upon record been found,
That forc'd the ladies to compound;
And that, unless I miss the matter,
Is all the bus'nefs you look after.
Befides, encounters at the bar
Are braver now than thofe in war,
In which the law does execution,
With lefs diforder and confufion;
Has more of honour in 't, some hold,
Not like the new way, but the old,
When those the pen had drawn together, 415
Decided quarrels with the feather,
And winged arrows kill'd as dead,
And more than bullets now of lead:
So all their combats now, as then,
Are manag'd chiefly by the pen;
That does the feat, with braver vigours,
In words at length, as well as figures;
Is judge of all the world performs
In voluntary feats of arms,
And whatsoe'er 's atchiev'd in fight,
Determines which is wrong or right;
For whether you prevail, or lofe,
All must be try'd there in the close ;
And therefore 'tis not wife to fhun
What you must trust to ere ye've done.
The law that fettles all you do,
And marries where you did but woo;
That makes the most perfidious lover,
A lady, that's as false, recover;
And if it judge upon your fide,
Will foon extend her for your bride,
And put her person, goods, or lands,
Or which you like beft, int' your hands.
For law's the wisdom of all ages,
And manag'd by the ablest sages,
Who, tho' their bus'nefs at the bar
Be but a kind of civil war,
In which th' engage with fiercer dudgeons
Than e'er the Grecians did, and Trojans ;
They never manage the contest
T'impair the public interest,
Or by their controverfies leffen
The dignity of their profeffion :
Not like us brethren, who divide
Our commonwealth, the cause, and fide;
And tho' we're all as near of kindred
As th' outward man is to the inward,
We agree in nothing, but to wrangle
About the slightest fingle-fangle,
While lawyers have more fober sense,
Than t'argue at their own expense,
To make their best advantages
Of others' quarrels, like the Swiss ;
And out of foreign controverfies,
By aiding both fides, fill their purses ;
But have no int'reft in the cause
For which th' engage, and wage the laws,
Nor further profpect than their pay,
Whether they lofe or win the day.
And tho' th' abounded in all ages,
With fundry learned clerks and fages;
Tho' all their bus'ness be dispute,
With which they canvass ev'ry fuit,
They 've no difputes about their art,
Nor in polemics controvert;
While all profeffions else are found
With nothing but difputes t' abound:
Divines of all forts, and physicians,
Philosophers, mathematicians :
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