And I with your lines am quite smit I declare;

So I, at your word, take you, and send you this line,

To say I rejoice to be your Valentine.

FROM A YOUNG MAN NEARLY OUT OF HIS TIME, TO HIS FAVOURITE LADY.

I have only a few months to serve,

When I shall be out of my time;

To keep thee I’ll strain every nerve,

Devoting to thee all my prime.

Then spite of relations and friends,

Consent, my dear girl, to be mine;