Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/231

CANTO I.] Quoth she, I've heard old cunning stagers Say, fools for arguments use wagers. And though I prais'd your valour, yet I did not mean to baulk your wit, Which, if you have, you must needs know What, I have told you before now, And you by experiment have prov'd, I cannot love where I'm belov'd. Quoth Hudibras, 'Tis a caprich Beyond the infliction of a witch; So cheats to play with those still aim, That do not understand the game. Love in your heart as idly burns As fire in antique Roman urns, To warm the dead, and vainly light Those only that see nothing by 't. Have you not power to entertain, And render love for love again? As no man can draw in his breath At once, and force out air beneath. Or do you love yourself so much To bear all rivals else a grutch? What fate can lay a greater curse, Than you upon yourself would force; For wedlock without love, some say, Is but a lock without a key. It is a kind of rape to marry One that neglects, or cares not for ye: