PLEASURE RECONCILED TO VIRTUE, SELECTION by BEN JONSON

It follows now you are to prove
The subtlest maze of all, that's love,
And if you stay too long,
The fair will think you do 'em wrong.

Go choose among - but with a mind
As gentle as the stroking wind
Runs o'er the gentler flowers.

And so let all your actions smile
As if they meant not to beguile
The ladies, but the hours.

Grace, laughter and discourse may meet,
And yet the beauty not go less:
For what is noble should be sweet,
But not dissolved in wantonness.

Will you that I give the law
To all your sport, and sum it?
It should be such should envy draw,
But ever overcome it.

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