We dance round in a ring and suppose, While the secret sits in the middle and knows

We dance round in a ring and suppose, While the secret sits in the middle and knows

But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
I could a tale read more

But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.

Est rosa flos Veneris cujus quo furta laterent.
[Roughly meaning, The discourses of the table among true loving
read more

Est rosa flos Veneris cujus quo furta laterent.
[Roughly meaning, The discourses of the table among true loving
friends are held in strict silence.]

If you wish another to keep your secret, first keep it to
yourself.

If you wish another to keep your secret, first keep it to
yourself.

Nothing is so oppressive as a secret: women find it difficult to
keep one long; and I know a read more

Nothing is so oppressive as a secret: women find it difficult to
keep one long; and I know a goodly number of men who are women in
this regard.
[Fr., Rien ne pese tant qu'un secret:
Le porter loin est difficile aux dames;
Et je sais meme sur ce fait
Bon nombre d'hommes que sont femmes.]

Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.

Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.

Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.

Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.

Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon;
lest the daughters of the Philistines read more

Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon;
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters
of the uncircumcised triumph.

How can we expect another to keep our secret if we cannot keep it
ourselves.

How can we expect another to keep our secret if we cannot keep it
ourselves.