Kitap 2
To raise our joys, and just oblige the sight.
Ere happy men beneath the roof were laid,
680
When oaks provided them with food and shade,
Some gloomy cave receiv'd the wanton pair;
For light too modest, and unshaded air!
From public view they decently retir'd,
And secretly perform'd what love inspir'd.
685
Now scarce a modish fop about the town,
But boasts with whom, how oft, and where 'twas done;And who is there so ignorant as not to know that the fops of our age are exactly like those of Ovid's?
They taste no pleasure, relish no delight,
Till they recount what pass'd the happy night.
But men of honour always thought is base,
690
To prostitute each kinder nymph's embrace:
To blast her fame, and vainly hurt his own,
And furnish scandal for a lewd lampoon.
And here I must some guilty arts excuse,
And disingenuous shifts that lovers use,
695
To wrong the chaste and innocent abuse.
When long repuls'd they find their courtship vain,
Her character with infamy they stain;
