What Kind of Mistress He would Have

Be the mistress of my choice,

Clean in manners, clear in voice;

Be she witty, more than wise,

Pure enough, though not precise;

Be she showing in her dress,

Like a civil wilderness,

That the curious may detect

Order in a sweet neglect;

Be she rolling in her eye,

Tempting all the passers by;

And each ringlet of her hair,

An enchantment, or a snare,

For to catch the lookers on;

But herself held fast by none.

Let her Lucrece all day be,

Thais in the night, to me.

Be she such, as neither will

Famish me, nor overfill.