The Virgins A.B.C.
OR,
An Alphabet of Vertuous Admonitions, for a Chast, Modest,
and well-governed Maid. The Tune is, The Young mans A.B.C.
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LL you faithfull Virgins,
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to this song give ear,
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And learn these Lessons,
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which are taught you here:
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An Alphabet of Vertues,
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are here set,
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Being learn'd
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will make a Maid compleat.
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Ear not a scornful mind,
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although you are
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Beautious as Hellen,
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or like Venus fair:
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It ill becomes a
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forehead smooth and white,
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To threaten anger
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in a Lovers sight.
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Huse thou a modest
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carriage, and still be
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Courteous and not too coy,
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in company:
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Their Nature's changing,
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and too much unkind,
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Who hath a comely face
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and scornful mind.
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Isdainful never seem,
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nor yet too much
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Dote on your faces beauty,
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slighting such
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As sue for Love,
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least creeping age come on
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And then too late,
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your folly you bemoan.
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Xchange no love,
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but always constant be,
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Esteem true love
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a perfect treasury:
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For where true love
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and beauty doth unite,
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It yields both parties
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both their hearts delight.
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Eign no affection,
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but where vows a re past,
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Fix there your heart,
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there let your love be plac't
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For if by feigned wiles,
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loves knot be ty'd,
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It breeds dissention
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'twixt the Groom and Bride.
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Row not too proud,
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though smiling fortune do
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Great store of wealth, and
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her best gifts bestow:
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For Pride the Proverb says
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must have a fall,
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And so must Maidens,
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widdows, wifes, and all.
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Ast not too much for
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marriage, nor the thing,
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Which doth not pleasure,
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but doth sorrow bring;
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For hasty lovers
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often do destroy,
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Their sweets of Love,
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e're they their hopes injoy.
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F you do chuse a man
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whom you affect,
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Injure him not,
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with any disrespect;
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But wary be, and
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e're lovers knot you tye,
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Prove first your own,
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and then his constancy.
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Nowledge is gained by
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experience, and by this,
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Thou may'st arrive
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unto the height of bliss
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First try, then trust.
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the which when you have prov't
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You both may love,
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and be as well belov'd.
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Ook e're you leap,
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the proverb still doth say,
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Let not smooth tongues
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your love to Lust betray:
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In fairest Grass
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a snake is often found,
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And smoothest tongues,
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with falshood much abound.
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Oan not too much,
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nor be thou always sad,
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Mirth sometimes may
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become a vertuous Maid:
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Yet use not too much
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laughter, lest you be
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Slighted and scorn'd,
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for your immodesty.
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Or use uncivil talk,
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or gesture light,
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Nor in unseemly
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wantonness delight:
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But keep chast behaviour,
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that you may
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Have good report,
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in every kind of way.
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Ffend not with a foul
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and slandrous tongue,
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Of them that do not
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think thee any wrong;
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But speak thou well of all,
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and always do
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With others as you would
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have them to do with you.
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Aint not your beauty
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when it is decay'd;
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Prize not that for
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a jewel that will fade,
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And when you've done,
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the best will fade away,
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And through red Cheeks,
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a wrinkled brow display.
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Uench in thy self
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all lusts inflaming fires,
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Which may provoke thee
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to such unchast desires;
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For though a while
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pleasure please the mind,
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Yet sorrow, want,
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and beggary comes behind.
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Emember next
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how like a fading flower,
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The earths best treasures
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vanish in an hour:
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And now the best of things
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you can enjoy,
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The Sithe of time shall cut,
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and death destroy.
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Eek therefore richer
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gifts then he can give,
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So shalt thou in a state
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most surely live:
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For though fair beauty,
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deck thy outward part,
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Yet inward vertue
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best adorns thy heart.
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Ry that rich jem, which
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when thou hast attain'd,
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Thou hast a vertuous Maids
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chief beauty gain'd:
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And if fair vertue
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do thy courses steer,
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Like loves fair daughter,
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thou shalt bright appear.
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Ain beauty's but a triffle,
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that a while
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Dame nature lends thee,
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with a flattering smile:
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Which lovers gaze at,
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and with greedy hands,
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Each one will crop its
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blossoms as it stands.
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Hilst in its fullest ripeness
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it is grown,
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When 'tis decay'd,
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theire loves are with it g[one]
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Let then this be thy care,
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and chiefest strife,
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To live a vertuous Maid,
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and honest Wife.
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Antippe like the wife
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of Socrates,
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Affect thou not
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thy husband to displease:
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Nor with a railing tongue,
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pursue his will,
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And in humility,
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obey him still.
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Ield not to others when
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you once are wed,
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The pleasures of
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your lawfull husbands b[ed]
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For if you guilty be
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of such a fact,
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Thou shalt not escape,
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unpunisht for that act.
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Ealous be thou in all
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these vertues, prove
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Both constant, chast, and
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loyal to your love:
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And if these Lessons
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well you learn, for thee,
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'Tis truly stil'd
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the Virgins A, B, C.
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