CANTO I.]
HUDIBRAS.
301
So all those false alarms of strife
Between the husband and the wife,
And little quarrels, often prove 905
To 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 more
Than as they're relish'd, sweet or sour; 910
Like music, that proves bad or good,
According as 'tis understood.
In all amours a lover burns
With frowns, as well as smiles, by turns;
And hearts have been as oft with sullen, 915
As charming looks, surpris'd and stolen:
Then why should more bewitching clamour
Some lovers not as much enamour?
For discords make the sweetest airs,
And curses are a kind of pray'rs; 920
Too slight alloys for all those grand
Felicities by marriage gain'd:
For nothing else has pow'r to settle
Th' interests of love perpetual;
An act and deed that makes one heart 925
Become 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. 930
And what security's too strong
To guard that gentle heart from wrong,
That to its friend is glad to pass
Itself away, and all it has,
Between the husband and the wife,
And little quarrels, often prove 905
To 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 more
Than as they're relish'd, sweet or sour; 910
Like music, that proves bad or good,
According as 'tis understood.
In all amours a lover burns
With frowns, as well as smiles, by turns;
And hearts have been as oft with sullen, 915
As charming looks, surpris'd and stolen:
Then why should more bewitching clamour
Some lovers not as much enamour?
For discords make the sweetest airs,
And curses are a kind of pray'rs; 920
Too slight alloys for all those grand
Felicities by marriage gain'd:
For nothing else has pow'r to settle
Th' interests of love perpetual;
An act and deed that makes one heart 925
Become 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. 930
And what security's too strong
To guard that gentle heart from wrong,
That to its friend is glad to pass
Itself 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.
