Ye Sexes give ear.
Ye sexes give ear to my fancy;
In the praise of good women I sing.
It is not of Doll, Kate, nor Nancy,
The mate of a clown nor a king.
Old Adam when he was created,
Was lord of the universe round;
But his happiness was not completed,
Until that a helpmate was found.
He had all things for food that was wanting,
Which give us content in this life;
He had horses and foxes for hunting,
Which many love more than a wife.
He’d a garden so planted by nature,
As man can’t produce in this life;
But yet the all-wise great Creator
Saw still that he wanted a wife.
Old Adam was laid in a slumber,
And there he lost part of his side;
And when he awoke, in great wonder
He beheld his most beautiful bride.
With transport he gazed all on her,
His happiness then was complete;
And he blessed the bountiful Donor,
Who on him bestowed a mate.
She was not took out of his head,
To reign or to triumph o’er man:
She was not took out of his feet,
By man to be trampled upon.
But she was took out of his side,
His equal and partner to be:
Though they are united in one,
Still the man is the top of the tree.
Then let not the fair be despised
By man, as she’s part of himself;
For a woman by Adam was prized
More than the whole world with its pelf.
Then man without woman’s a beggar,
Tho’ of the whole world he’s possessed;
And a beggar that has a good woman,
With more than the world he is blest.