A Batchelers Resolution.
OR
Have among you now, Widowes or Maydes,
For I come a woing as Fancie perswades.
I must have a Wife, be she Older or Younger,
For I cannot, nor will not lye alone any longer.
To the tune of, The Blazing Torch.
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A Batchelour I have beene long,
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and had no minde to marry,
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But now I finde it did me wrong
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that [I] so long did tarry,
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Therefore I will a wooing ride,
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there's many married younger,
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Where shall I goe to se[e]ke a Bride?
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Ile lye alone no longer.
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So many sinnes are incident
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unto a single life,
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That I all danger to prevent
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with speede will seeke a Wife:
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If I with Women chance to drinke
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I'me call'd a Mutton-monger,
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But now Ile stop their mouthes I thinke
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And lye alone no longer.
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O Fate send me a handsome Lasse
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that I can fancy well,
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For Portion Ile not greatly passe,
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though Money heares the bell.
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Love now adayes with Gold is bought
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but I'me no Money-monger.
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Give mee a Wife, though shee's worth nought
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Ile lye alone no longer.
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Yet if she chance to proove a Slut,
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a Scold, or else a Whore,
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That could not chuse but be a cut,
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and v[e]xe me very sore,
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A Slut would make me loath my meate
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were I halfe dead with hunger,
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But I must leave this fond conceate,
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And lye alone no longer.
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What if she should a Wanton be,
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and make my forehead ake?
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Oh that would be a griefe to me,
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such wrongs few men will take,
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For jealousie is of such force,
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no passion can be stronger,
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But be she better, be she worse,
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Ile lye alone no longer.
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If jealous she shall be of me,
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that were as great a spight,
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Then should we seldome quiet be,
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but quarrell day and night,
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She'd thinke my love from her did range
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though I nere meant to wrong her,
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Yet this shall not my humour change,
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Ile lye alone no longer.
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What shall I doe to chuse a wife
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in every thing compleate?
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Should I in searching spend my life,
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t'would proove a taske to great,
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No Man can finde a Woman so,
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the older nor the younger,
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Ile take my chance as others doe,
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And lye alone no longer.
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Yet will I chuse the best I can,
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Jove send me luck in chusing,
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And crave the counsell of some man
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whose counsels worth the using:
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If she proove good I shall be glad,
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and vow Ile never wrong her,
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Yet am resolved good or bad
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To lye alone no longer.
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The second Part. To the same tune.
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ILe be contented with my lot,
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how ever it befall,
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Yet if she proove a drunken sot,
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'twill grieve me worst of all,
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Then I my selfe must drinke small-beere,
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and she must drinke the stronger,
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Though't cost me twenty pounds a yeare,
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Ile lye alone no longer.
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This is the onely time I know,
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for Young-men to get Wives,
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They say that Maides and Widowes now
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fo[r] Husbands daily strives,
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Th[eref]ore I shall be quickly sped,
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si[t]h both for Husbands hunger,
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With any man theyle quickly wed,
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Theyle lye alone no longer.
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Be shee a widdow or a Bawde,
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I doe not greatly passe,
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A withered Crone whose blo[o]d's decayde,
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or a young lively Lasse:
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One that is rich, or one that's poore,
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a feeble, or a stronger:
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An honest woman, or a whore,
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Ile lye alone no longer.
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But yet if I my choice may have
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a Mayde [s]hould b[e] my wife,
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I would not be a Widowes slave,
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Ide rather loose my life:
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If I should wed a Widow old,
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I had better take a younger,
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For Widowes will not be contrould,
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Yet I can stay no longer.
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If she should have a stinking breath
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I never should abide her,
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For that to me is worse then death,
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I had rather touch a Spider:
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But that's a fault may soone be smelt,
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sir Ajax smels no stronger:
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[B]efore Ile take one with such fault,
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Ile lye alone yet longer.
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If shee chance to proove a Scould,
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her tongue will breede my strife,
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Then I must looke to be contrould,
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and curbed by me Wife:
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A Scould of women is the worst,
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shele force a man to wrong her:
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Therefore Ile try all humors first,
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And lye alone no longer.
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Some men perhaps may wonder, why
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my minde runnes so on Marriage,
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To him that askes me, I reply,
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'tis for my honest carriage:
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For live a young man nere so chaste,
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he's counted a Whoremonger:
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Therefore Ile get a Wife in haste,
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And lye alone no longer.
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Although my Wife be none oth best,
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yet I must be content:
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I shall as well speede as the rest,
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which 'bout this action went:
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I am not first that matched ill,
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therefore it is no wonder:
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Ile keepe my resolution still,
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And lye alone no longer.
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I trust I shall with one be sped,
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that doth deserve my love:
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If I with such a Woman wed,
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I sweare by mighty Jove,
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That ere she any thing should [?]
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Ile suffer colde and hunger:
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Though she had scant cloathes
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Ide lye alone no longer.
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You that my resolution hear
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judge whether I deserve
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To have a Wife that love[?]
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and would my will obser[ve]
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Were she a Widdow or a [?]
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an Elder, or a Younger[?]
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My Wedding should not be [?]
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[Ile lye alone] no long[er.]
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