10
Some other lovers might beguile
Who not thy falsehood know.

But I am proof against all art:
No vows shall e'er persuade me
Twice to present a wounded heart 15
To her that hath betray'd me.

Could I again be brought to love
Thy form, though more divine,
I might thy scorn as justly move
As now thou sufferest mine. 20

THE LOSS.

Yet ere I go,
Disdainful Beauty, thou shalt be
So wretched as to know
What joys thou fling'st away with me:

A faith so bright, 5
As Time or Fortune could not rust,
So firm, that lovers might
Have read thy story in my dust,

And crown'd thy name
With laurel verdant as thy youth. 10
Whilst the shrill voice of Fame
Spread wide thy beauty and my truth.

This thou hast lost!
For all true lovers, when they find
That my just aims were crossed, 15
Will speak thee lighter than the wind;

And none will lay
Any oblation on thy shrine,
But such as would betray
Their[56:1] faith to faiths as false as thine. 20

Yet if thou choose
On such thy freedom to bestow,
Affection may excuse:
For love from sympathy doth flow.

THE SELF-CRUEL.[57:1]

Cast off, for shame, ungentle maid,
That misbecoming joy thou wear'st!
For in my death (though long delay'd),
Unwisely cruel thou appear'st.
Insult o'er captives with disdain: 5
Thou canst not triumph o'er the slain.

No, I am now no longer thine;
Nor canst thou take delight to see
Him whom thy love did once confine
Set, though by death, at liberty; 10
For if my fall a smile beget,
Thou gloriest in thy own defeat.

Behold how thy unthrifty pride
Hath murthered him that did maintain it;
And wary souls who never tried 15
Thy tyrant beauty, will disdain it:
But I am softer, and, (though[57:2] me
Thou wouldst not pity,) pity thee.

AN ANSWER TO A SONG, "WERT THOU MUCH [?] FAIRER
THAN THOU ART," BY MR. W. M.[58:1]

Wert thou by