If maidens then shall chance be sped
Ere they can scarcely dress their head,
Yet pardon them, for they be loth
To make God Phœbus break his oath:
And better 'twere a child were born
Than that a God should be foresworn.
In Wit's Interpreter, 1655, and other Miscellanies, a third stanza is given:—
"Yet silly they, when all is done,
Complain our wits their hearts have won,
When 'tis for fear that they should be
With Daphne turn'd into a tree:
And who would so herself abuse
To be a tree, if she could chuse?"
The younger Donne printed the verses among the Poems by William, Earl of Pembroke, and Benjamin Ruddier, 1660, ascribing them to the Earl. Donne's authority carries no weight.
From Harl. MS. 791, fol. 54.
WHY[37] should passion lead thee blind
'Cause thy mistress is unkind?
She's yet too young to shew delight
And is not plumed for Cupid's flight;
She cannot yet in height of pleasure
Pay her lover equal measure,
But like the rose new blown doth feed
The eye alone but bears no seed.
She is yet but in her spring,
Cold in love till Cupid bring
A hotter season with his fire,
Which soon will ripen her desire.
Autumn will shortly come and greet her,
Making her taste and colour sweeter:
Her ripeness then will soon be such
As she will fall even with a touch.
From Malone MS. 16.