Kitap 1
When all are risen and prepar'd to go,
Mix with the crowd and tread upon her toe;
This is the proper time to make thy court,
For now she's in the vein, and fit for sport.
680
Lay bashfulness, that rustic virtue, by;Modesty is a vice, when it hinders us from doing anything that is profitable to us; and the misfortune is, it generally comes upon us most unseasonably, and when it should not. When it should, we commonly miss it; and when we do not want it, it is impertinent.
To manly confidence thy thoughts apply.
On fortune's foretop timely fix thy hold;
Now speak and speed. for Venus loves the bold.
No rules of rhetoric here I need afford;He talks of modesty, and says, if the lover banishes it, he has no occasion for eloquence; for love and fortune favour the bold.
685
Only begin, and trust the following word:
It will be witty of its own accord.
Act well the lover; let thy speech abound
In dying words, that represent thy wound;
Distrust not her belief; she will be mov'd:
690
All women think they merit to be lov'd.
Sometimes a man begins to love in jest,
And after feels the torment he possess't.
For your own sakes be pitiful, ye fair,
For a feign'd passion may a true prepare.
695
By flatteries we prevail on womankind,
