SINCE lady mild, too base in array, hath liv'd as an exile, None of account but stout; if plain, stale slut, not a courtress: Dames now-a-days, fie, none, if not new-guisèd in all points: Fancies fine, sauc'd with conceits, quick wits very wily, Words of a saint, but deeds guess how, feign'd faith to deceive men; Courtsies coy, no veil, but a vaunt, trick'd up like a Tuscan, Pac'd in print, brave lofty looks, not us'd with the vestals; In hearts, too, glorious, not a glance but fit for an empress: As minds most valorous, so strange in array, marry, stately; Up from the waist like a man, new guise to be cas'd in a doublet, Down to the foot perhaps like a maid, but hos'd to the kneestead, Some close-breech'd to the crotch for cold, tush, peace, 'tis a shame, sir! Hairs by birth as black as jet, what! art can amend them,— A periwig frounc'd fast to the front, or curl'd with a bodkin; Hats from France, thick-pearl'd for pride and plum'd like a peacock; Ruffs of a size, stiff-starch'd to the neck, of lawn, marry, lawless; Gowns of silk, why, those be too bad, side, wide with a witness, Small and gent i' the waist, but backs as broad as a burgess; Needless naughts, as crisps and scarfs, worn à @3la Morisco,@1 Fum'd with sweets, as sweet as chaste, no want but abundance. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AMORETTI: 64 by EDMUND SPENSER THE WASTE PLACES by JAMES STEPHENS CASEY AT THE BAT (1) by ERNEST LAWRENCE THAYER QUATRAIN: AMONG THE PINES by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH I HAVE SEEN by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS ETHINTHUS, QUEEN OF WATERS by WILLIAM BLAKE |