<65.1> The following is a poet's lecture to the ladies of his
time on the long prevailing practice of wearing patches,
in which it seems that Lucasta acquiesced:--
BLACK PATCHES.
VANITAS VANITATUM.
LADIES turn conjurers, and can impart
The hidden mystery of the black art,
Black artificial patches do betray;
They more affect the works of night than day.
The creature strives the Creator to disgrace,
By patching that which is a perfect face:
A little stain upon the purest dye
Is both offensive to the heart and eye.
Defile not then with spots that face of snow,
Where the wise God His workmanship doth show,
The light of nature and the light of grace
Is the complexion for a lady's face.
FLAMMA SINE FUMO, by R. Watkyns, 1662, p. 81.
In a poem entitled THE BURSSE OF REFORMATION, in praise of
the New Exchange, printed in WIT RESTORED, 1658, patches are
enumerated among the wares of all sorts to be procured there:--
"Heer patches are of every cut,
For pimples and for scars."
They were also used for rheum, as appears from a passage in
WESTWARD HOE, 1607:--
"JUDITH. I am so troubled with the rheum too. Mouse, what's
good for it?
HONEY. How often I have told you you must get a patch.
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