University of Virginia Library

IV.

There lay a Youth of all his VVits bereft,
Who this Campaign was by his Mistress left;
A nauseous Strumpet, insolent and loud,
False and destructive, basely born and proud.
Oh bubbl'd Fool, thou that hadst seen the Fate
Of Cully-B***shes quietly spent Estate:
Collier undon, and forty Rake-hells more
For an old common o're-grown flabby VVhore,
Whose Bastard Son may vie with thee for Age,
A Trader twenty years upon the Stage:
What from th'expensive Folly couldst thou see,
But shameful Ruine, laught-at Infamy?
Thy Eyes, I know, were open'd long before,
But still the Jilt betray'd thee to the VVhore;
Debas'd thy Noble Spirits to her Rule,
And turn'd thy once fair Fame to Ridicule,
Debauch'd thy Sense with Conversation base,
Whores, Eating Pimps, Players, a numerous Race,
While thou the treating Cully art despis'd,
And Cuckold by the Slaves thou Gormandiz'd.
Return, thou Prodigal, from Husks and Swine,
The Ruine of the first, was cause of thine:
They say thou'rt brave, give us this Proof of it,
And we'll believe thou can'st be braver yet:
Thou'st yet a Nobler Race of Life to run,
Leave Herwood to her now to be undone:
But her kind Keeper gone, his Flame will fade;
Love cools when 'tis an Obligation made.