quote · Legacy record
Behold, my lord, what monsters muster here, With Angels’ faces, and harmful, hellish hearts, With smiling looks, and deep deceitful thoughts, With tender skins, and stony cruel minds.... The younger sort come piping on apace In whistles made of fine enticing wood, Till they have caught the birds for whom they brided. The elder sort go stately stalking on, And on their backs they bear both land and fee, Castles and Towers, revénues and receipts, Lordships and manors, fines, yea farms and all. What should these be? (Speak you, my lovely lord!) They be not men: for why? they have no beards. They be no boys, which wear such side-long gowns. What be they? women, masking in men’s weeds, With dutchkin doublets and with jerkins jagged, With Spanish spangs and ruffs set out of France. They be so sure even Wo to Men indeed. High time it were for my poor muse to wink, Since all the hands, all paper, pen and ink, Which ever yet this wretched world possessed, Cannot describe this Sex in colours due.
Behold, my lord, what monsters muster here, With Angels’ faces, and harmful, hellish hearts, With smiling looks, and deep deceitful thoughts, With tender skins, and stony cruel minds.... The younger sort come piping on apace In whistles made of fine enticing wood, Till they have caught the birds for whom they brided. The elder sort go stately stalking on, And on their backs they bear both land and fee, Castles and Towers, revénues and receipts, Lordships and manors, fines, yea farms and all. What should these be? (Speak you, my lovely lord!) They be not men: for why? they have no beards. They be no boys, which wear such side-long gowns. What be they? women, masking in men’s weeds, With dutchkin doublets and with jerkins jagged, With Spanish spangs and ruffs set out of France. They be so sure even Wo to Men indeed. High time it were for my poor muse to wink, Since all the hands, all paper, pen and ink, Which ever yet this wretched world possessed, Cannot describe this Sex in colours due.
In print by 1921 AD · modern
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Gascoigne (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1921 AD · modern
In print by 1921: recorded in My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921) (1921 AD)
Page 80 · printed citation: Gascoigne (The Steele Glas, 1576). · compiler notes excluded
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.