The fables of young Æsop, with their morals with a moral history of his life and death, illustrated with forty curious cuts applicable to each fable.
Aesop., Harris, Benjamin, d. 1716?
Page  70

32. The Chastity of Turtle-Doves.

[illustration]

IN a Dove house, where Turtles liv'd
Together Lovingly;
Each had its Mate to Bill withall,
And keep their Chastity:
But on a Season, in the Spring,
When 'twas fine, Sun-shine Weather,
Two Pair upon the House did sit
A Billing one another:
When strait a Pidgeon to them flyes,
A Hen t'entice astray,
Who with just scorn his Suit denies:
So back he flys away.
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The MORAL.

HEre is a Glass for all Immodest People; wherein they may see, how far different they are from Turtles, who (void of Sense and Reason) are Naturally Chaste: For they have a con∣fused, innate Obligation to keep them∣selves so, after they have Coupled. Men and Women have a double, Rational Tye, Divine, and Moral; Inward Con∣science, and Outward Ceremony: Yet, for ought I see, the Generality value Neither, a Button. One will have his Whore, and the other, her Rogue; Li∣centiously turning that blessed State, into a Common Road of Bestiality.

For shame then, thou Yoked Leacher∣ous Satyr, leave off Surfeiting thy Lust; and when thou art again the like Tempt∣ed, powerfully Resist; and perform thy Marriage Vow, with a Just and Sacred Chastity. Nor may those Unmarry'd, take any such wicked Course in Filthi∣ness, since No Whore-mongers, (as well as Adulterers, and Fornicators) shall en∣ter into the Kingdom of GOD. (file. Keep chaste, do not thy Marriage-bed de-Resist the Tempter, and he'll soon Recoil.