Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A51666
|
My vvife.
|
J. W.
|
1660
(1660)
|
Wing M3171A; ESTC R214290
|
2,588
|
16
|
MY WIFE LONDON Printed for R. Marriot in St. Dunstans Church-yard Fleet-street 1660. To the Reader â—Tis not fit a little book should have a large Epistle and therefore briefly this THe Author fancied this Wife at a seasonable time to be marryed which was about the thirtieth year of his Age he liv'd almost as long marryed to her and dyed marryed to no other She has now been more then twenty yeares his widow all which time she has been kept very faithfully and as privately by a true friend of her Husbands and she having been a Mourner so long has been perswaded by him to unvale her self and appear in the light that she may become a Coppy for the best wives to write after And now each Reader that thinks fit may Court her and by a strict Civility get so much of her favour as to know her well and by that knowledg have the advantage of getting a Wife as like her as his merits or his fortune who has usually the greatest share in getting wives and riches will allow him but let him not flatter himself with a false hope of obtaining her for â—he has protested to dye John Coopers widow And yet if she should prove â—o very a woman as to change her name let me beg that though â—he break her promise yet he use her kindly for her first husbands sake who was both Patient and Humble and Learned and remarkably Charitable and indeed a man of more visible vertues then a short Epistle may enumerate And if the Reader shall doubt the justnesse of this Commendation and require a double witnesse for it the Lady Dyot for whose direction the Author created this Wife will say she knows it to be truth and I know she and I do both love his memory J. W. MY VVIFE I. I Have past my maddest age Free from Cupid's foolish rage Free from sighings free from teares Free from hopes and free from fears And yet I 'le wed if I can see A Mistress that is meet for me II. First I wo'd have her person such As deformity cannot touch Be she black or brown or fair Of Complexion hue or haire If my Mistress comly be She 'l prove fair enough for me III. Courtly carriage in these dayes Is but a suspicious paise For my part I care not for 't Nature is not made at Court Let a grave and vertuous Mother Be my Wives Court and no other IV. Wealth I wish she may have more Then to keep her from being poor That she need not love for need Nor I wealth her love to feed If in mind or means she be Rich she 's rich enough for me V. To be born of noble bloud Is to her that 's good a good But to me it is no more Then time past or untry'd Ore Be she good how ere she be Born she 's nobly born to me VI. True Religion will make Any good for her own sake But let vertue be the Teacher Of my Wife before the Preacher She 's good that wo'd use me well Were there neither Heaven nor Hell VII Who for beauty takes a Wife Chooseth by the sheath the knife And who takes her for Estate Or for person hath ill fate These may perish or decay On or ere her Wedding day VIII Wealth is Fortunes and not mine Person owes decay to time Learning Wit and such like parts Ravish mens not womens hearts But a love by true love bred Gives each night a maiden-head IX Wit and Eloquence of tongue Sho'd to me not her belong Sober silence in a maid Sayes enough when nothing's said And a Wife when she speaks least And that little well speaks best X. When I Court her first she shall Neither credit nought nor all But when time my truth has prov'd And she finds she is belov'd Let her then believe and then First begin to love agen XI Let her next be wise and know Love shall reap as Love shall sow Trying masteries in a Wife Is the scab or bane of life And hath too oft had the fate To destroy a good Estate XII Children sho'd not be loves end But loves mend if God them send She sho'd love them for no other Cause but for my Wife 's their Mother If God send none I should be Child to her and she to me XIII For man is the ball of fate Tost about from state to state Therefore God for one chief part Give mine fortitude of heart That so she may valiant prove And bear any loss but love XIV Next I wish that my heart may Find her's made of Wax not Clay That my love may make her's be More soft not more hard to me She 's loves hangman and his hell In whom a proud heart does dwell XV. When the Priest has made us one Flesh of flesh and bone of bone We must Wed our wills together And will one in both or neither By her tongue my heart must â—peak Hers by mine must silence break XVI Where two hearts be thus indented They live â—or they live contented Where they differ there they die And their Marriage-knot untie They and none but they are Wed Whose hearts lodg both in one Bed XVII She that knows to spend or spare As times and occasions are Brings a portion bringing none But much better bringing one One may well call such a Wife The life of her husbands life XVIII She her husbands state and kiâ— Makes her glasse to dress her by She a neat and wholsome dyet Makes the utmost of her riot She like a good Snaile doth dwel Most at home in her own shell XIX Such a Wife as this wo'd make Monkes their Cloysters to forsake Such a Wife wo'd almost vex Angels that they want a sex Such a Wife I wish to nurse Both my body and my purse XX. Thus i' th' mine â— de choose my gold And my Wife cast in a mould Yet a Womans Son may vary But I mean if ere I marry Either to have such an one Or a better which is none Jc. COOPER The Book of Common Prayer WHat prayer by the book and Common Yes why not The Spirit of Grace And supplication Is not left free alone For time and place But manner too to read or speak by rote Is all alike to him that prays With 's heart what with his mouth he says They that in private by themselves alone Do pray may take What liberty they please In choosing of the waies Wherein to make Their souls most intimate affections known To him that sees in secret when Th' are most reserv'd from other men But he that unto others leads the way In publick prayer Should choose to do it so As all that hear may know They need not fear To tune their hearts unto his tongue say Amen no doubt they were betray'd To blaspheme when they sho'd have pray'd Devotion will adde life unto the Letter And why sho'd not That which Authority Prescribes esteemed be Advantage got If Prayer be good the commoner the better Prayer in the Churches words as well As sense of all Prayers bears the Bell Ch Hâ— FINIS