Katherine Philips. To the Queen of Inconstancy, Regina Collier, in Antwerp.

Katherine Philips

To the Queen of Inconstancy,
Regina Collier, in Antwerp

I
UNWORTHY, since thou hast decreed
Thy Love and honour both shall bleed,
My Friendship could not choose to die
In better time or company.

II
What thou hast got by this exchange
Thou wilt perceive, when the revenge
Shall by those treacheries be made,
For which our Faith thou hast betray'd.

III
When thy idolaters shall be
True to themselves, and false to thee,
Thou'lt see that in heart-merchandise,
Value, not number, makes the price.

IV
Live to that day, my Innocence
Shall be my Friendship's just defence:
For this is all the World can find,
While thou wert noble, I was kind.

V
The desp'rate game that thou dost play
At private ruins cannot stay;
The horrid treachery of that face
Will sure undo its native place.

VI
Then let the Frenchmen never fear
The victory while thou art there:
For if sins will call judgments down,
Thou hast enough to stock the Town.

Source:
Philips, Katherine. Poems, 1678.
in Minor Poets of the Caroline Period.
George Saintsbury, ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. 537.

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