Whether they must be hugg'd or kiss'd
When sitting by the fire
Or whether they in bed may lay,
Which doth the Lord require?
But some pretend to recommend
The sitting up all night;
Courting in chairs as doth appear
To them to be most right.
Nature's request is, grant me rest,
Our bodies seek repose;
Night is the time, and 'tis no crime
To bundle in your clothes,
Since in a bed a man and maid,
May bundle and be chaste,
It does no good to burn out wood,
It is a needless waste.
Let coats and gowns be laid aside,
And breeches take their flight,
An honest man and woman can
Lay quiet all the night.
In Genesis no knowledge is
Of this thing to be got,
Whether young men did bundle then,
Or whether they did not.
The sacred book says wives they took,
It don't say how they courted,
Whether that they in bed did lay,
Or by the fire sported.
But some do hold in times of old,
That those about to wed,
Spent not the night, nor yet the light
By fire, or in the bed.
They only meant to say they sent
A man to chuse a bride,
Isaac did so, but let me know
Of any one beside.
Man don't pretend to trust a friend,
To choose him sheep and cows,
Much less a wife which all his life
He doth expect to house.