a hunter who meets a young girl out in the forest. Struck by her beauty, he wants to kiss her:
And takes her by her white hand,
Intending to caress her;
but she begins to cry, and, moved by her tears, he releases her; but he has hardly got clear of the wood before she begins to laugh at him heartily, and in derision shouts after him: "When you've got hold of a quail you ought to pluck it, and when you've got hold of a girl you ought to embrace her":
Quand vous teniez la caille,
Il fallait la plumer.
Quand vous teniez la fillette,
Il fallait l'embrasser.
I quote these verses, for they may possibly afford inexperienced young men some matter for reflection.
Besides, a woman's "No" has often a piquancy about it which lovers of a somewhat more refined class set great store by. Even Martial (v. 46) has expressed himself in favour of this in a little epigram which begins thus:
While ev'ry joy I scorn, but that I snatch;
And me thy furies more than features catch.
