The Sweet Neglect.
his little madrigal (extracted from Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, Act i. Scene 1. first acted in 1609.) is in imitation of a Latin poem printed at the end of the variorum edit. of Petronius, beginning, "Semper munditias, semper Basilissa, decoras", &c. See Whally's Ben Jonson. vol. ii. p. 420.
STILL to be neat, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast
Still to be poud'red, still perfum'd
Lady, it is to be presum'd,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.
Give me a looke, give me a face
That makes simplicitie a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, haire as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me,
Than all th' adulteries of art,
That strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
