To a deceitful Woman: tell me Friends,
  Am I not sung and proverbd for a Fool
  In every street, do they not say, how well
  Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?
  Immeasurable strength they might behold
  In me, of wisdom nothing more then mean;
  This with the other should, at least, have paird,
  These two proportiond ill drove me transverse.
    Chor. Tax not divine disposal, wisest Men
  Have err'd, and by bad Women been deceiv'd;
  And shall again, pretend they ne're so wise.
  Deject not then so overmuch thy self,
  Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides;
  Yet truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder
  Why thou shouldst wed Philistian women rather
  Then of thine own Tribe fairer, or as fair,
  At least of thy own Nation, and as noble.
    Sam. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas'd
  Mee, not my Parents, that I sought to wed,
  The daughter of an Infidel: they knew not
  That what I motion'd was of God; I knew
  From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd
  The Marriage on; that by occasion hence
  I might begin Israel's Deliverance,
  The work to which I was divinely call'd;
  She proving false, the next I took to Wife
  (O that I never had! fond wish too-late)
  Was in the Vale of Sorec, Dalila,
  That specious Monster, my accomplisht snare.
  I thought it lawful from my former act,
  And the same end; still watching to oppress
  Israel's oppressours: of what now I suffer
  She was not the prime cause, but I my self,
  Who vanquisht with a peal of words (O weakness!)
  Gave up my fort of silence to a Woman.
    Chor. In seeking just occasion to provoke
  The Philistine, thy Countries Enemy,
  Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness:
  Yet Israel still serves with all his Sons.
    Sam. That fault I take not on me, but transfer
  On Israel's Governours, and Heads of Tribes,
  Who seeing had great acts which God had done
  Singly by me against their Conquerours
  Acknowledg'd not, or not at all consider'd
  Deliverance offerd: I on th' other side
  Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds,
  The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the dooer;
  But they persisted deaf, and would not seem
  To count them things worth notice, till at length
  Thir Lords the Philistines with gather'd powers
  Enterd Judea seeking mee, who then
  Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd,
  Not flying, but fore-casting in what place
  To set upon them, what advantag'd best;
  Mean while the men of Judah to prevent
  The harrass of thir Land, beset me round;
  I willingly on some conditions came
  Into thir hands, and they as gladly yeild me
  To the uncircumcis'd a welcom prey,
  Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threds
  Toucht with the flame: on thir whole Host I flew
  Unarm'd, and with a trivial weapon fell'd
  Thir choicest youth; they only liv'd who fled.
  Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole Tribe,
  They had by this possess'd the Towers of Gath,
  And lorded over them whom now they serve;
  But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt,
  And by thir vices brought to servitude,
  Then to love Bondage more then Liberty,
  Bondage with case then strenuous liberty;
  And to despise, or envy, or suspect
  Whom God hath of his special favour rais'd
  As thir Deliverer; if he aught begin,
  How frequent to desert him, and at last
  To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?
    Chor. Thy words to my remembrance bring
  How Succoth and the Fort of Penuel
  Thir great Deliverer contemn'd,
  The matchless Gideon in pursuit
  Of Madian and her vanquisht Kings:
  And how ingrateful Ephraim
  Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,
  Not worse then by his shield and spear
  Defended Israel from the Ammonite,
  Had not his prowess quell'd thir pride
  In that sore battel when so many dy'd
  Without Reprieve adjudg'd to death,
  For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.
    Sam. Of such examples adde mee to the roul,
  Mee easily indeed mine may neglect,
  But Gods propos'd deliverance not so.
    Chor. Just are the ways of God,
  And justifiable to Men;
  Unless there be who think not God at all,
  If any be, they walk obscure;
  For of such Doctrine never was there School,
  But the heart of the Fool,
  And no man therein Doctor but himself.
    Yet more there be who doubt his ways not just,
  As to his own edicts, found contradicting,