All mankind ever did of course,
And daily does the fame, or worse.
For what romance can fhew a lover,
That had a lady to recover,
And did not steer a nearer course,
To fall aboard in his amours?
And what at first was held a crime,
Has turn'd to hon'rable in time.
To what a height did infant Rome
By ravishing of women, come?
When men upon their spouses seiz'd,
And freely marry'd where they pleas'd,
They ne'er forfwore themselves, nor ly'd,
Nor, in the mind they were in, dy'd;
Nor took the pains t' addrefs and fue,
Nor play'd the masquerade to woo :
Difdain'd to stay for friends' consents,
Nor juggled about settlements ;
Did need no licence, nor no priest,
Nor friends, nor kindred, to affift,
Nor lawyers, to join land and money
In the holy state of matrimony,
Before they settled hands and hearts,
Till alimony or death departs ;
Nor wou'd endure to stay, until
Th' had got the very bride's good-will,
But took a wife and fhorter courfe
To win the ladies-downright force;
And justly made 'em prisoners then,
As they have, often since, us men,
With acting plays, and dancing jigs,
The luckiest of all love's intrigues;
And when they had them at their pleasure,
They talk'd of love and flames at leifure;
For after matrimony's over,
He that holds out but half a lover,
Deferves, for ev'ry minute, more
Than half a year of love before;
For which the dames, in contemplation
Of that best way of application,
Prov'd nobler wives than e'er were known,
By fuit, or treaty, to be won;
And fuch as all posterity
Cou'd never equal, nor come nigh.
For women firft were made for men,
Not men for them.-It follows, then,
That men have right to every one,
And they no freedom of their own;
And therefore men have pow'r to chuse,
But they no charter to refuse.
Hence 'tis apparent that what course
Soe'er we take to your amours,
Tho' by the indirectest way,
'Tis no injustice nor foul play ;
And that you ought to take that course,
take you, for better or worse,
And gratefully fubmit to those
Who you, before another, chose.
For why shou'd ev'ry savage beast
Exceed his great lord's interest?
Have freer pow'r than he, in grace
And nature, o'er the creature has?
Because the laws he fince has made
Have cut off all the pow'r he had;
Retrench'd the abfolute dominion
That nature gave him over women ;
When all his power will not extend
One law of nature to fufpend;
And but to offer to repeal
The smallest claufe, is to repel.
This, if men rightly understood
Their privilege, they wou'd make good,
And not, like fots, permit their wives
T'encroach on their prerogatives,
For which fin they deserve to be
Kept, as they are, in slavery :
Beyond th' inftructions of my love.
Forgive me, fair, and only blame
Th' extravagancy of my flame,
Since 'tis too much at once to show
Excess of love and temper too;
All I have faid that 's bad and true,
Was never meant to aim at you,
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