Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/114

For women hate above all things,
That men should hold their leading strings;
Forget not this; and what I next
Relate to thee, in golden text
Of fairest script might well be writ
For great behoof and benefit
Of lovers.
Heed not scandal Whatso man would get
Grace in a woman’s heart should let
Her go her ways, where’er she will,
For seek to check her, and you spill10180
All love betwixt you, whether she
Or spouse or mistress chance to be.
Though ’gainst his mistress one receive
Clear witness, let him not believe
Or hearken it, but say to those
Who bring the tale, they but disclose
Their want of wit, and words they waste;
To tell base tales of one so chaste
Argues a fool. Her vices e’en
Should he let pass as though unseen10190
And unsuspect. For those who treat
A woman ill, with hope the heat
Of love to raise in her, will find
That when again she’s wooed with kind
And loving words, ’tis like to that
Experience that sometimes a cat
Affords us, which men beat, then call
To come again beneath their thrall,
But if puss once gets loose, O rare
And deft his skill who caught her were.10200
But if the lady ’tis doth trim
Her lover’s beard, ’tis not for him