No More Learning

Our ease, our thrift, our honor, and our day,
Shall we, for this vaine Bubles shadow pay?
Ends love in this, that my man, 15
Can be as happy'as I can; If he can
Endure the short scorne of a Bridegroomes play?
That loving wretch that sweares,
'Tis not the bodies marry, but the mindes,
Which he in her Angelique findes, 20
Would sweare as justly, that he heares,
In that dayes rude hoarse minstralsey, the spheares.
Hope not for minde in women; at their best
Sweetnesse and wit, they'are but _Mummy_, possest.


[Loves Alchymie. _1633-69:_ Mummye. _A18_, _B_, _Cy_, _D_,
_H40_, _H49_, _JC_, _L74_ (or Alchymy. _added in a later
hand_), _Lec_, _N_, _O'F_, _S_, _S96_, _TCC_, _TCD:_
Elegie. _P:_ _no title_, _A25_]

[14 Bubles] Bubless _1669_]

[15 my _1633-69 and MSS. :_ any _S96_, _1855_, _and Grolier_
(_perhaps from some copy of 1633_)]

[23-4 _punctuation from MSS:_

at their best,
Sweetnesse, and wit they'are, but, _Mummy_, possest.

_1633-54:_ _1669 omits all punctuation in these lines_]




_The Flea. _

Marke but this flea, and marke in this,
How little that which thou deny'st me is;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled bee;
Thou know'st that this cannot be said 5
A sinne, nor shame, nor losse of maidenhead,
Yet this enjoyes before it wooe,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more then wee would doe.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, 10
Where wee almost, yea more then maryed are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our mariage bed, and mariage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,
And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet. 15
Though use make you apt to kill mee,
Let not to that, selfe murder added bee,
And sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three.
Cruell and sodaine, hast thou since
Purpled thy naile, in blood of innocence? 20
Wherein could this flea guilty bee,
Except in that drop which it suckt from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and saist that thou
Find'st not thy selfe, nor mee the weaker now;
'Tis true, then learne how false, feares bee; 25
Just so much honor, when thou yeeld'st to mee,
Will wast, as this flea's death tooke life from thee.


[The Flea _is placed here in the 1633 edition:_ _1635-69 place
it at beginning of_ Songs and Sonets: The Flea. _or no title_,
_A18_, _A25_, _B_, _C_, _Cy_, _D_, _H40_, _H49_, _L74_, _Lec_,
_N_, _O'F_, _P_, _S_, _S96_, _TCC_, _TCD_]

[3 It suckt mee first, _1633-54_, _D_, _H49_, _Lec_, _S96:_
Mee it suck'd first, _1669_, _A18_, _A25_, _B_, _C_, _Cy_,
_L74_, _N_, _P_, _S_, _TC_

and now sucks] and now it sucks _1669_]

[5 Thou know'st that _1633-54_, _D_, _H49_, _Lec:_ Confess it.
This cannot be said _1669_, _A18_, _A25_, _B_, _Cy_, _H40_,
_L74_, _N_, _O'F_, _P_, _S_, _S96_, _TC_]

[6 nor shame, nor losse _1633-54_ (shame _1633_), _D_, _H49_,
_Lec:_ or shame, or loss _1669_, _A18_, _A25_, _B_, _Cy_,
_H40_, _L74_, _N_, _O'F_, _P_, _TC_]

[9 would] could _1669_]

[11: yea, _1633-54_, _D_, _H49_, _Lec:_ nay, _1669_, _A18_,
_A25_, _B_, _C_, _H40_, _L74_, _N_, _O'F_, _S_, _TC_]

[16 you] thee _A18_, _Cy_, _N_, _O'F_, _S_, _S96_, _TC_]

[21 Wherein] In what _A18_, _A25_, _B_, _Cy_, _L74_, _N_,
_O'F_, _S_, _S96_, _TC_]

[22 drop] blood _1669_]




_The Curse. _

Who ever guesses, thinks, or dreames he knowes
Who is my mistris, wither by this curse;
His only, and only his purse
May some dull heart to love dispose,
And shee yeeld then to all that are his foes; 5
May he be scorn'd by one, whom all else scorne,
Forsweare to others, what to her he'hath sworne,
With feare of missing, shame of getting, torne:

Madnesse his sorrow, gout his cramp, may hee
Make, by but thinking, who hath made him such: 10
And may he feele no touch
Of conscience, but of fame, and bee
Anguish'd, not that'twas sinne, but that'twas shee:
In early and long scarcenesse may he rot,
For land which had been his, if he had not 15
Himselfe incestuously an heire begot:

May he dreame Treason, and beleeve, that hee
Meant to performe it, and confesse, and die,
And no record tell why:
His sonnes, which none of his may bee, 20
Inherite nothing but his infamie:
Or may he so long Parasites have fed,
That he would faine be theirs, whom he hath bred,
And at the last be circumcis'd for bread:

The venom of all stepdames, gamsters gall, 25
What Tyrans, and their subjects interwish,
What Plants, Mynes, Beasts, Foule, Fish,
Can contribute, all ill which all
Prophets, or Poets spake; And all which shall
Be annex'd in schedules unto this by mee, 30
Fall on that man; For if it be a shee
Nature before hand hath out-cursed mee.


[The Curse. _1633-69:_ A Curse. _or_ The Curse. _A18_, _A25_,
_B_, _C_, _D_, _H40_, _H49_, _JC_, _L74_, _Lec_, _N_, _O'F_,
_S_, _TCC_, _TCD:_ Dirae. _P_, _Q_]

[2 curse] course _1669_]

[3 His only, and only his purse _1633-54_, _A18_, _A25_, _B_,
_C_, _D_, _H40_, _H49_, _JC_, _L74_, _Lec_, _N_, _O'F_, _S_,
_TC:_ Him, only for his purse _1669_, _Chambers:_ His one and
his onely purse _P_]

[4 heart _1633-54 and MSS. :_ whore _1669 and Chambers_]

[5 And she yeeld then to _1633-54 and MSS. :_ And then yield
unto _1669_, _Chambers_]

[8 getting, _Ed:_ getting _1633-69_

torne: _Ed:_ torne; _1633-54:_ torne. _1669_. _Compare_ 16
_and_ 24]

[9 cramp,] cramps, _1669_, _Chambers_, _and most MSS.