The Virgins A.B.C.
OR,
An Alphabet of vertuous Admonitions for a chaste, modest, and
well governed Maid. To the tune of, The Young-mans A.B.C.
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ALL youthfull Virgins
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to this Song give eare,
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And learne the Lessons
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which are taught you here.
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An Alphabet of Vertues
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here are set,
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And being learnd
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doe make a Maid compleat,
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BEare not a scornefull mind,
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although you are
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Beauteous as Hellen,
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or like Venus faire;
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It ill becomes
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a forehead smooth and white,
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To threaten anger
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in a Lovers sight.
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CHuse then a modest carriage,
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and still be
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Courteous, and not too coy
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in company:
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Theyre Natures Changlings
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and too much unkind,
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Who have a lovely face,
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and scornefull mind.
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DIsdainefull never seeme,
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nor yet too much
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Doat on thy faces beauty,
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sleighting such
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As sue for love,
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lest creeping age come on,
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And then too late
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your folly you bemone.
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EXchange no love,
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but alwayes constant be,
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Esteeme true Love
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a perfect treasury;
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For where true Love
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and beauty both unite,
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It yields both parties
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both their hearts delight.
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FEigne no affection
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but where vowes are past,
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Fixe there your heart,
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let there your love be platct,
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For if by feigned wiles
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Loves Knot be tyd,
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It breeds dissention
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twixt the Groome & Bride.
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GRow not to proud,
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though smiling fortune doe,
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Great store of wealth,
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and her best gifts bestow:
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For Pride the Proverbe sayes,
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must have a fall,
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And so must Maidens,
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Widdowes, Wives and all.
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HAste not too much
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for marriage, nor the thing
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Which doth not pleasure only,
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but griefe bring,
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For hasty Lovers
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often doe destroy
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The sweets of Love,
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ere they their hopes enjoy.
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IF yet you chuse
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a Mate whom you affect,
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Injure him not
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with any disrespect;
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But wary be,
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and ere Loves Knot you tie,
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Prove first your owne,
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and then his constancie.
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KNowledge is gaind
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by xperience, and by this
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Thou maist arrive
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unto the height of blisse;
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First try, then trust;
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and when you both have provd
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You may both love,
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and be as well belovd.
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LOoke ere you leape,
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the Proverbe still doth say,
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Let no smooth tongues
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your love to lust betray;
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In fairest grasse
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a Snake is often found,
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And smoothest tongues
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with falshood most abound.
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The second Part, To the same Tune.
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MOurne not too much,
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nor be thou alwayes sad,
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Mirth sometimes may
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become a vertuous Maid:
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Yet use not too
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much laughter, lest you be
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Sleighted and scornd
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for your immodesty.
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NOr use uncivill talke,
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no gesture light,
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Nor in unseemely
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wantonnesse delight,
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But keepe a chaste
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behaviour, that you may,
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Have good report
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in every kind of way.
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OFfend not with
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a foule and slandrous tongue
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Others, that doe
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not wish thee any wrong,
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But speake thou well
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of all, and alwayes doe
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With others, as
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youd have them deale with you.
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PAint not your beauty
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when it is decayd,
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Prize not that for
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a Jewell, which must fade,
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And when you have done
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your best will fal away,
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And through red cheeks
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a wrinckled brow display.
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QUench in thy selfe
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all lusts inflaming fires,
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Which may provoke
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thee to unchast desires,
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For though a while
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such pleasures please thy mind,
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Yet sorrow, want,
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and beggery come behind.
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REmember next
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how like a fading flower,
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Rich earths best treasures
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vanish in an hower,
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And how the best
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of things that you enjoy,
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The Sith of Time
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will cut and Death destroy.
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SEeke therefore richer
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gifts than thee can give,
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So shalt thou in
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a state securer live;
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For though fraile beauty
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decke thy outward part,
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Yet inward vertue
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best adornes the heart.
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TRy that rich Gemme,
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which when thou hast at-taind
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Thou hast a beauteous
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Maids chiefe beauty gaind.
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And if faire V[e]rtue
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doe thy courses steere,
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Like Joves chaste Daughter
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thou shalt bright appeare.
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VAine Beautys but
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a trifle, 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 to crop
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a blossome of it stands.
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WHile in its fullest
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ripenesse it is growne,
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When its decayd,
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their loves are with it gone
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Let this then be
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thy care, and chiefest strife,
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To live a vertuous Maid,
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an honest Wife.
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XAntippe-like,
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the Wife of Socrates,
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Affect not thou
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thy husband to displease,
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Nor with a rayling
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tongue pursue him still,
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But in humility
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obey his will.
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YEeld not to others
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when you once are wed,
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The pleasures of
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your lawfull husbands bed,
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For if thou guilty
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be of such an act,
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Thou shalt not scape
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unpunisht for thy fact.
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ZEalous then be
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in all these Vertues, prove
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Both constant, chast,
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and loyall in your love.
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And if these Lessons
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well thou learnst, for thee
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Tis truely still,
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The Virgins ABC.
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