Poems and Dramas of Fulke Greville :: :: University of Virginia Library

Scoggin his wife by chance mistooke her bed;
Such chances oft befall poore Women-kind,
Alas poore soules, for when they misse their head,
What maruell it is, though the rest be blind?

This bed it was a Lords bed where she light,
Who nobly pittying this poore Womans hap,
Gaue almes both to releeue, and to delight,
And made the Golden shower fall on her lap.

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Then in a freedome askes her as they lay,
Whose were her lips and breasts: and she sware, His:
For hearts are open when thoughts fall to play.
At last he askes her, Whose her backside is?
She vow'd that it was Scoggins onely part,
Who neuer yet came neerer to her heart.

Scoggin o're-heard; but taught by common vse,
“That he who sees all those which doe him harme,
Or will in marriage boast such small abuse,
Shall neuer haue his Night-gowne furred warme:
And was content, since all was done in play,
To know his lucke, and beare his Armes away.

Yet when his Wife should to the market goe,
Her breast and bellie he in cauasse drest,
And on her backe-side fine silke did bestow,
Ioying to see it brauer than the rest.

His Neighbours askt him, Why? and Scoggin sware,
That part of all his Wife was onely his:
The Lord should decke the rest, to whom they are,
For he knew not what Lordly-fashion is.
If Husbands now should onely decke their owne,
Silke would make many by their backs be knowne.