Let this great maxim be my virtue’s guide,— In part she is to blame that has been tried: He comes too near that comes to be denied. - Mary Wortley Montagu

Though I never get possession, ’Tis a pleasure to adore;
Hope, the wretch’s only blessing, May, in time, procure me more.Constant courtship may obtain her, Where both wealth and merit fail;
And the lucky minute gain her— Fate and fancy must prevail.At Diana’s shrine, aloud, By the bow and by the quiver,
Thrice she bowed, and thrice she vowed, Once to love—and that forever.

Cease, fond shepherd! Cease desiring What you never must enjoy;
She derides your vain aspiring, She, to all your sex is coy.Cunning Damon once pursued her, Yet she never would incline;
Strephon too, as vainly wooed her, Though his flocks are more than thine.At Diana’s shrine, aloud, By the zone around her waist,
Thrice she bowed, and thrice she vowed, Like the Goddess, to be chaste.

But the fruit that can fall without shaking
Indeed is too mellow for me.