Poem by William Davenant

The Coquet

TIS, in good truth, a most wonderful thing
(I am even ashamed to relate it)
That love so many vexations should bring,
And yet few have the wit to hate it.

Love's weather in maids should seldom hold fair:
Like April's mine shall quickly alter;
I'll give him to-night a lock of my hair,
To whom next day I'll send a halter.

I cannot abide these malapert males,
Pirates of love, who know no duty;
Yet love with a storm can take down their sales,
And they must strike to Admiral Beauty.

Farewell to that maid who will be undone,
Who in markets of men (where plenty
Is cried up and down) will die for even one;
I will live to make fools of twenty. 

1. The Christians Reply to the Phylosopher
2. Life and Death
3. For the Lady Olivia Porter; a Present upon a New-years Day
4. Praise and Prayer
5. To a Mistress Dying

William Somerville The Coquet ("When tortur’d by the cruel Fair")

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