When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly
When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly
Original Text
[Oliver Goldsmith] The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale, Supposed to be written by himself, 2 vols. (Salisbury: B. Collins for F. Newbery, 1766): II, 78. British Library 2483.c.46
1When lovely woman stoops to folly,
2 And finds too late that men betray,
3What charm can sooth her melancholy,
4 What art can wash her guilt away?
5The only art her guilt to cover,
6 To hide her shame from every eye,
7To give repentance to her lover,
8 And wring his bosom -- is to die.
Publication Start Year
1766
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2001
Rhyme