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