“When My Dimber Dell I Courted” [Notes]
I
[From The New Canting Dictionary],
When my dimber dell I courted [1]
She had youth and beauty too,
Wanton joys my heart transported,
And her wap was ever new. [2]
But conquering time doth now deceive her,
Which her pleasures did uphold;
All her wapping now must leave her,
For, alas! my dell’s grown old.
II
Her wanton motions which invited,
Now, alas! no longer charm,
Her glaziers too are quite benighted, [3]
Nor can any prig-star charm.
For conquering time, alas! deceives her
Which her triumphs did uphold,
And every moving beauty leaves her
Alas! my dimber dell’s grown old.
III
There was a time no cull could toute her, [4]
But was sure to be undone:
Nor could th’ uprightman live without her, [5]
She triumph’d over every one.
But conquering time does now deceive her,
Which her sporting us’d t’ uphold,
All her am’rous dambers leave her,
For, alas! the dell’s grown old.
IV
All thy comfort, dimber dell,
Is, now, since thou hast lost thy prime,
That every cull can witness well,
Thou hast not misus’d thy time.
There’s not a prig or palliard living,
Who has not been thy slave inroll’d.
Then cheer thy mind, and cease thy grieving;
Thou’st had thy time, tho’ now grown old.
[1: pretty wench] [2: Notes] [3: eyes] [4: man; look at] [5: Notes]