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.

Lord, Make me chaste, but not yet

Lord, Make me chaste, but not yet

Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun,
Grow pure by being purely shone upon.

Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun,
Grow pure by being purely shone upon.

Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity:
The deep air listen'd round her as she rode,
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Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity:
The deep air listen'd round her as she rode,
And all the low wind hardly breathed for fear.

There are few virtuous women who are not bored with their trade.

There are few virtuous women who are not bored with their trade.

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.

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.

'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.