T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Way to Win Her
By Thomas D’Urfey the Younger(From The Rattle, c. 1766) YE Swains who roam from fair to fair, | |
| And strive each heart to bind, | |
| Give ear to what I now declare | |
| The precepts of a friend. | |
| Would you in Venus wars succeed, | 5 |
| Of bashfulness be sure take heed, | |
| And that’s the Way to Win her. | |
| When first you meet the blooming lass, | |
| More ripe than peach or pear, | |
| Let not the minutes idly pass, | 10 |
| Of dull delays beware: | |
| With kisses sweet your flame confess, | |
| Her panting snowy bosom press, | |
| And that’s the Way to Win her. | |
| But should the crafty nymph prove coy, | 15 |
| Cry “Fye, Sir, you are rude,” | |
| Let not those arts you[r] hopes destroy, | |
| By nature all are lewd. | |
| Then shilly shally never stand, | |
| But boldly march up sword in hand | 20 |
| And that’s the Way to Win her. | |
| And when love’s fire you have fann’d, | |
| And she begins to melt, | |
| And finds her virtue can’t withstand | |
| The raptures she has felt; | 25 |
| Then gently force her to the sport | |
| With resolution storm the fort, | |
| And that’s the Way to Win her. | |