A Match at a Venture: OR,
Time & Opportunity won the day.
Being, A Discourse of wooing between Two Lovers.
The Young-man Courted her with Complements most rare,
And all his mind to her he boldly did declare;
She still held off, and was so stiff inclind,
And would not quickly let him know her mind:
Until that Cupid with his Golden Dart
Had made a wound, and piercd her tender heart:
And then she yielded his true Love to be,
They now are Married, and live most gallantly.
Tune of, Jenny come tye my bonny Cravat.
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AS I in the Fields was walking along,
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I heard a young couple was talking anon,
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I do love thee most dearly, fair Maiden, said he,
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And thou shalt be my true love until I do dye;
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For Cupid has wounded my poor love sick heart,
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I must break my mind now before we depart.
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I will buy thee Scarfs, & I will buy thee Gloves,
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That is fitting for suitors to give to their loves,
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And jewels and bracelets that shall be most rare,
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If thou wilt but be my true love and my dear;
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I am thy true lover, thoust be my own dear,
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Ile ner be false to thee thou needest not fear.
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Maid.
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KInd Young-man I thank you for your good will,
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Yet poor silly Maidens had need try their skill,
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You promise more in an hour then you do in 7 year,
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Its hard for to trust any Man I do swear;
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They be so false-hearted, and given to lye,
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Theyve causd many a Maiden to weep and to cry.
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Its not your cunning baits, nor your nimble tongue
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Such words as those has done many Maids wrong
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Therefore honest young-man you are not for me,
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A good Service is better than a Wife for to be:
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I take great delight for to live a Maids life,
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Theres far greater trouble belongs to a Wife.
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Young-man.
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Sweet-heart now thou makst me smile in conceit,
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Now hear me a word more I do thee intreat;
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If thou wilt but love me as I do love thee,
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And joyn now in wedlock my Wife for to be:
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Theres never a woman in England I swear,
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Shall ha more content then thou shalt have my dear.
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Tho some be false-hearted, and often do swear,
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O do not blame all men for one my own dear:
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He is worse than a Jew that has a good wife,
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And loves her not as dear as he loves his own life:
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And let her want nothing that she doth require,
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But be loving and faithful unto her desire.
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Maid.
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Indeed honest Man, I tell you now true,
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Theres many Men more I say besides you,
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That has said and sworn as much as you say,
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And have proved knaves to their wives the first day:
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That never takes care for one thing or other,
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Their wife and their children may starve altogether.
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It behoves all Maidens that live single lives,
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How they Marry with Men for to be their wives;
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Some will misuse them both sober and drunk,
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And use them no better then the whore their Punk,
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We see enough every day of those which are wed,
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How barely they go, and how hardly theyr fed.
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Man.
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Indeed pretty Maiden thy words are most true,
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But do not believe it shall be so with you:
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My state and my purse shall be at thy command,
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Say what shall be done, and thy word it shall stand;
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And grant but thy favour my wife for to be,
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Nothing shall be wanting that can pleasure thee.
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Maid.
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Why then honest young-Man you shall be my dear,
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Ile venture in Marriage without any fear;
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You shall be my Husband, I will be your wife,
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And live loving together all days of our life:
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The Young-Man rejoyced the same for to hear,
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when she had yielded to be both his wife & his Dear.
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Now in the conclusion, they appointed a day,
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And went to the Church & were marryd straitway;
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With consent of their friends, & to end my Ditty,
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They live loving together in Londons fair City;
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And loving and gallantly they do agree,
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And a pattern to other true lovers may be.
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