False-Seeming.
Yea, by the gods I swear to you,
That ne’er your ancestors nor sire
Had slave whose love was more entire.
Love.
Nay! That thy nature would deny.
False-Seeming.
E’en take your chance thereof and try;
And if some caution you demand.
No surer were you though your hand12650
Held warrant, written oath, or pledge.
With confidence I dare allege
That though a wolf you beat within
An inch of life, he still his skin
Retains, and therefrom issueth not.
And ’tis the same with me I wot:
Though ’neath a simple vestment I
Am hid, I practise treachery.
Suppose you I for virtue care
Because the outward guise looks fair12660
Neath which I do the devil’s work?
No crime, by God, I blink or shirk;
And if I coy and simple seem.
Have I then changed my life d’ye deem ?
Nay, thereto make I no pretence.
False-Seemings’s leman
My dear, Constrained-Abstinence,
Hath need of all my carefulness;
She had been long since dead, I guess.
Had I not been at hand to stay
Her weary steps on life’s hard way;12670
Suffer us twain to work our will.
