Ben Jonson

His Supposed Mistress

If I freely can discover
What would please me in my lover,
   I would have her fair and witty,
   Savouring more of court than city;
   A little proud, but full of pity;
   Light and humourous in her toying;
   Oft building hopes, and soon destroying;
   Long, but sweet in the enjoying,
Neither too easy, nor too hard:
All extremes I would have barred.
 
She should be allowed her passions,
So they were but used as fashions;
   Sometimes froward, and then frowning,
   Sometimes sickish, and then swowning,
   Every fit with change still crowning.
   Purely jealous I would have her;
   Then only constant when I crave her,
   ’Tis a virtue should not save her.
Thus, nor her delicates would cloy me,
Neither her peevishness annoy me.

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