Wife. The wife is mistresse of her family.
Widow. Much more the widdow, for she rules alone:
Maid. But mistresse of mine owne desires am I,
When you rule others wils and not your owne.
Wife. Onely the wife enjoys the vertuous pleasure.
Widow. The widow can abstaine from pleasures known:
Maid. But th' vncorrupted maid preserues[147] such measure,
As being by pleasures wooed she cares for none.
Wife. The wife is like a faire supported vine.
Widow. So was the widdow, but now stands alone:
For being growne strong, she needs not to incline.
Maid. Maids, like the earth, supported are of none.
Wife. The wife is as a Diamond richly set;
Maid. The maide vnset doth yet more rich appeare.
Widow. The widdow a Iewel in the Cabinet,
Which though not worn is stil esteem'd as deare.
Wife. The wife doth loue, and is belou'd againe.
Widow. The widdow is awakt out of that dreame.
Maid. The maids white minde had neuer such a staine,
No passion troubles her cleare vertues streame.
Yet if I would be lou'd, lou'd would I be,
Like her whose vertue in the bay is seene:
Loue to wife fades with satietie,
Where loue neuer enioyed is euer greene.
Widow. Then whats a virgin but a fruitlesse bay?
Maid. And whats a widdow but a rose-lesse bryer?
And what are wiues, but woodbinds which decay
The stately Oakes by which themselues aspire?
And what is marriage but a tedious yoke?
Widow. And whats virginitie but sweete selfe-loue?
Wife. And whats a widdow but an axell broke,
Whose one part failing, neither part can mooue?
Widow. Wiues are as birds in golden cages kept.
Wife. Yet in those cages chearefully they sing:
Widow. Widdowes are birds out of these cages lept,
Whose ioyfull notes makes all the forrest ring.
Maid. But maides are birds amidst the woods secure,
Which neuer hād could touch, nor yet[148] could take;
Nor whistle could deceiue, nor baite allure,
But free vnto themselues doe musicke make.
Wife. The wife is as the turtle with her mate.
Widow. The widdow, as the widdow doue alone;
Whose truth shines most in her forsaken state.
Maid. The maid a Phœnix, and is still but one.