Master of the Female Half-Lengths. Luteplayer. c1520-40.
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany.
The Third and Fourth Bookes of Ayres:
The Fourth Booke
IX.
Young and simple though I am,
I haue heard of Cupids name:
Guesse I can what thing it is
Men desire when they doe kisse.
Smoake can neuer burne, they say,
But the flames that follow may.
I am not so foule or fayre
To be proud, nor to despayre;
Yet my lips have oft obserued:
Men that kiss them press them hard,
As glad lovers vse to do
When their new-met loves they woo.
Faith, 'tis but a foolish minde,
Yet me thinkes, a heate I finde,
Like thirstlonging, that doth bide
Euer on my weaker side,
Where they say my heart doth moue. Venus, grant it be not loue.
If it be, alas, what then?
Were not women made for men?
As good 'twere a thing were past,
That must needes be done at last.
Roses that are ouer-blowne,
Growe lesse sweet, then fall alone.
Yet nor Churle, nor silken Gull,
Shall my Mayden blossome pull:
Who shall not I soone can tell;
Who shall, would I could as well:
This I know, who ere hee be,
Loue hee must, or flatter me.
Thomas Campion
