The Politick Maids Device;
OR,
The Maids distrust in CUPID 's play.
Here Counsel is to all the rest,
Of Maidens fair to chuse the best,
And let the worst of Youg-men stay a while,
They are apt young maidens to beguile,
But if Maidens will be rul'd by she,
She'l fit them in their own degree:
And make them spend their breath and strength,
He should be an honest man that gain'd a wench.
The Tune is, What shall a Young woman do with an Old man. Or, Digby's Farewel.
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A LL Maidens come hither and hearken a while,
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I'le sing you a song that will make you to smile,
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And be careful I say when you go to wed,
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What man you do marry, and who you bring to your bed:
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And be wise in your chusing great comfort you'l have,
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Or else you're undone if you match with a Knave;
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Keep L iberty still M aids, and be more wise,
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Young-men they are apt for to feed you with lyes.
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There's many a young man when he comes to wooe,
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Will tell you fair tales before you do go,
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And call you his honey his joy and his dear,
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When his heart is as false as an old rotten Pair:
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But be merry and wise, this counsel is brave,
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Or else you're undone if you match with a Knave,
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Keep liberty, etc.
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There's many a young-man will swear and will lye,
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Has made many a maiden to weep and to cry,
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And brought them to sorrow all days of their life:
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She had very hard fortune to be such a mans wife:
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Some men cannot afford their own w[i]ves a good word.
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Nor scarcely afford them vread to put in their head,
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Keep liberty, etc.
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There's hardly a young maiden but once in her life,
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That has a desire for to be made a Wife
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If fortune be so that she meet with a Cheat,
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Oh then she's undone and her sorrows are great,
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All the days of her life then she must be a slave,
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But maidens be wise and take heed of a Knave,
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Keep liberty, etc.
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But a man of good breeding or a man of good stock,
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If he come in good sadness will scorn for to mock,
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But these white-Liver'd fellows their deceit is much m[ore]
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To undoe a maid and to make her a Whore:
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O these are the Blades that will cog lye and crave,
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But maidens be wise and take heed of a Knave,
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Keep liberty, etc.
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Young men they will promise you what they will do,
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I cannot deny but some of them are true,
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But where is that man that a maiden can trust,
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For one that is true there is twenty unjust:
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A maid she may marry all this we do know,
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And's many times brought to great sorrow and woe,
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Keep liberty, etc.
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There's many a good man has been brought to decay,
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You cannot deny this, true 'tis that I say,
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When a Husband delighteth more in a Whore,
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Then in his own wife, this thing goes very sore,
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Which troubles young maidens that now are unwed,
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When a woman does bring a Knave to her Bed.
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Keep liberty, etc.
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Young maidens be careful, and mind what I say
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We must not blame all men for some going astray,
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There's many an honest man in the world to be had,
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You must chuse where the best are there's no more to be [?]
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If you marry a good husband and miss a foul Knave,
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You're Crown'd with good fortune that will be brave,
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Keep liberty, etc.
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Now in the Conclusion Maids be not precise,
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She's a Maiden her self that this song did devise
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Youngmen are so false that she could not forbear,
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But publish these verses for maids to take care:
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And be merry and wise, when your love he doth crave,
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There's many a good woman undone by a Knave,
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Keep liberty still maids and be more wise,
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For youngmen are apt for to feed you with lyes.
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FINIS
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