PHYLLIS's AGE.
18th Century Matthew Prior EnglishPHYLLIS's AGE.
How old may Phyllis be, You ask, Whose Beauty thus all Hearts engages? To Answer is no easie Task; For She has really two Ages.
Stiff in Brocard, and pinch'd in Stays, Her Patches, Paint, and Jewels on; All Day let Envy view her Face; And Phyllis is but Twenty-one.
Paint, Patches, Jewels laid aside, At Night Astronomers agree, The Evening has the Day bely'd; And Phyllis is some Forty-three.