If she seem not chaste to me,
What care I how chaste she be?

If she seem not chaste to me,
What care I how chaste she be?

Of all the sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.

Of all the sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.

An unattempted lady could not vaunt of her chastity.

An unattempted lady could not vaunt of her chastity.

Me of my lawful pleasure she restrained
And prayed me oft forbearance--did it with
A pudency so read more

Me of my lawful pleasure she restrained
And prayed me oft forbearance--did it with
A pudency so rosy, the sweet view on't
Might well have warmed old Saturn--that I thought her
As chaste as unsunned snow.

'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity;
She that has that is clad in complete steel,
And, like a read more

'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity;
She that has that is clad in complete steel,
And, like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen,
May trace huge forests, and unharbour'd heaths,
Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds;
Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,
No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer,
Will dare to soil her virgin purity.

So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity,
That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand read more

So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity,
That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lacky her,
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt.

Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.

Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.

As pure as a pearl,
And as perfect: a noble and innocent girl.

As pure as a pearl,
And as perfect: a noble and innocent girl.

Even from the body's purity, the mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.

Even from the body's purity, the mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.