Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/246

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To bear them up, and hold them tight

Against her chest. When thus she’s dight

She’ll find that she can move with ease,

And lightly dance, if so she please.

And, if a dainty, well-bred quean,

Her Venus chamber keeps she clean;

No spider webs will there be found,

And things unseemly from the ground

She’ll sweep, dust, burn, and clear away,

E’en as a thrifty housewife may.

Is her leg ugly? ne’er ’tis bare.

Too large her foot? ’tis shod with care.

More wily she than e’er neglect

To hide with skill the least defect.

If she be cursed with noisome breath,

It doth not worry her to death,

But heed she taketh not to speak

To any till her fast she break,

And careful is her mouth ne’er goes

Too closely towards her lover’s nose.

When laughter doth provoke her, so

She laughs that two sweet dimples show

About her mouth, on either side,

The which she never opes right wide

In laughing, but conceals beneath

A well-set smile, her doubtful teeth.

A woman if she laugh or smile

Should keep her mouth close shut the while,

For if too wide she open it

It looks as though her checks were slit;

And if her teeth are nothing grand,

But crossed and out of order stand,