Page:Snug little island.pdf/5

 Would you obtain the youth you love,

The precept of a friend approve,

And learn the way to keep him.

As ſoon as Nature has decreed

The bloom of eighteen years,

And Iſabel from ſchool is freed,

Then beauty's force appears;

The youthful blood begins to flow,

She hopes for man, and longs to know

The ſureſt way to gain him,

When firſt the pleaſant pain is felt

Within the lover's breaſt,

And you, by ſtrange perſuaſion melt,

Each wiſhing to be bleſt.

Be not too bold, nor yet too coy,

With prudence lure the happy boy,

And that's the way to keep him.

At court, at ball, at park, or play,

Aſſume a modeft pride;

And leſt your tongue your mind betray,

In fewer words confide;

The maid who thinks to gain a mate

By giddy chat, will find too late,

That's not the way to keep him.

In dreſſing never the hours kill,

That bane to all the ſex;

Nor let the art of dear ſpadille

Your innocence perplex,

Be always decent as a bride,

By virtuous rules your reaſon guide,

For that's the way to keep him,