CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
301
So all those false alarms of strife Between the husband and the wife,And little quarrels, often prove 905To be but new recruits of love;[1]When those who're always kind or coy,[2]In time must either tire or cloy.Nor are their loudest clamours moreThan as they're relish'd, sweet or sour; 910Like music, that proves bad or good,According as 'tis understood.In all amours a lover burnsWith frowns, as well as smiles, by turns;And hearts have been as oft with sullen, 915As charming looks, surpris'd and stolen:Then why should more bewitching clamourSome lovers not as much enamour?For discords make the sweetest airs,And curses are a kind of pray'rs; 920Too slight alloys for all those grandFelicities by marriage gain'd:For nothing else has pow'r to settleTh' interests of love perpetual;An act and deed that makes one heart 925Become another's counter-part,And passes fines on faith and love,[3]Inroll'd and register'd above,To seal the slippery knots of vows,Which nothing else but death can loose. 930And what security's too strongTo guard that gentle heart from wrong,That to its friend is glad to passItself away, and all it has,
- ↑ So Terence. The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love. Andria III. 3.
- ↑ Coy, or Coye, is used here in the sense of toying or fondling. So Shakspeare,But see Wright's Glossary sub voce."Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,While I thy amiable cheek do coy."Mids. N. D. Act iv. sc. 1.
- ↑ That is, makes them irrevocable, and secures the title; as passing a fine in law does a conveyance or settlement.
