Aphra Behn. "A thousand martyrs I have made."

Aphra Behn

A thousand martyrs I have made,
All sacrificed to my desire;
A thousand beauties have betray'd,
That languish in resistless fire.
The untam'd heart to hand I brought
, And fixed the wild and wandering thought.

I never vow'd nor sigh'd in vain,
But both, tho' false, were well received.
The fair are pleased to give us pain,
And what they wish is soon believed.
And tho' I talk'd of wounds and smart,
Love's pleasures only touched my heart.

Alone the glory and the spoil
I always laughing bore away;
The triumphs, without pain or toil,
Without the hell, the heav'n of joy.
And while I thus at random rove
Despise the fools that whine for love.

Lycidus, 1688.

Restoration Verse, 1660-1715. William Kerr, ed.
London: Macmillan, 1930. 160-161.