Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.

Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.

I call not that virginity a virtue, which resideth only in the bodies integrity; much less if it be with read more

I call not that virginity a virtue, which resideth only in the bodies integrity; much less if it be with a purpose of perpetually keeping it: for then it is a most inhumane vice. - But I call that Virginity a virtue which is willing and desirous to yield itself upon honest and lawful terms, when just reason requireth; and until then, is kept with a modest chastity of body and mind.

When a woman has lost her chastity, she will shrink from no
crime.
[Lat., Neque femina amissa pudicitia read more

When a woman has lost her chastity, she will shrink from no
crime.
[Lat., Neque femina amissa pudicitia alia abneurit.]

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.

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.

We romantic writers are there to make people feel and not think. A historical romance is the only kind of read more

We romantic writers are there to make people feel and not think. A historical romance is the only kind of book where chastity really counts.

Mine honor's such a ring;
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors,
read more

Mine honor's such a ring;
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors,
Which were the greatest obloquy i' th' world
In me to lose.

'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.

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?