Poem by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Woman's Honour

            A Song

               I.

LOVE bid me hope and I obey'd;
     Phillis continu'd still unkind:
Then you may e'en despair, he said,
     In vain I strive to change her Mind.

               II.

Honour's got in, and keeps her Heart;
     Durst he but venture once abroad,
In my own Right I'd take your Part,
     And shew my self a mightier God.

               III.

This huffing Honour domineers
     In Breasts, where he alone has place:
But if true gen'rous Love appears,
     The Hector dares not shew his Face.

               IV.

Let me still languish and complain,
     Be most inhumanly deny'd:
I have some Pleasure in my Pain,
     She can have none with all her Pride.

               V.

I fall a Sacrifice to Love,
     She lives a Wretch for Honour's sake;
Whose Tyrant does most cruel prove,
     The Diff'rence is not hard to make.

               VI.

Consider Real Honour then,
     You'll find Hers cannot be the same;
'Tis noble Confidence in Men,
     In Women mean mistrustful Shame.

1. Nestor
2. A Song (Give me leave to rail at you)
3. On the Women about Town
4. A Song of a Young Lady to Her Ancient Lover
5. To Love

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