Kitap 1
First seek an object worthy of your flame;The poet here gives his advice as to three things: to seek after an amiable object: to win it by respect and complacency, and not to lose it after once gotten.
Then strive, with art, your lady's mind to gain;
And last, provide your love may long remain.
On these three precepts all my work shall move:
These are the rules and principles of love.
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Before your youth with marriage is oppress't,That is, while you are a freeman, unmarried, and not engaged to any other mistress. The truest meaning that can be given, is, that while you are young, and are not yet troubled with the infirmities of age (for an old man in love is ridiculous) choose where you please.
Make choice of one who suits your humour best
And such a damsel drops not from the sky;
She must be sought for with a curious eye.
The wary angler, in the winding brook,
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Knows what the fish, and where to bait his hook.
The fowler and the huntsman know by name
The certain haunts and harbour of their game.
So must the lover beat the likeliest grounds;
Th' Assemblies where his quarries most abound:
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Nor shall my novice wander far astray;
These rules shall put him in the ready way.
Thou shalt not fail around the continent,
As far as Perseus or as Paris went:
For Rome alone affords thee such a store,
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