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“Ut flos in Septis secretus nascitur hortis,

“Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus Aratro;

“Quem mulcent Auræ, firmat Sol, educat Imber,

“Multi illum Pueri, multæ optavêre Puellæ:

“Idem cùm tenui carptus defloruit ungui,

“Nulli illum Pueri, nullæ optavêre Puellæ.

“Sic Virgo dum intacta manet, tum chara suis; sed

“Cùm Castum amisit polluto Corpore florem,

“Nec Pueris jucunda manet, nec grata Puellis.

This I take to be a notable Emblem both of the HYMEN and of VIRGINITY itself.

OTHERS again affirm, that the Effusion of Blood, in the first Act, is common to all VIRGINS; founded upon the Authority of the 22d Chap. of Deut. &c: By which ’tis plain, that this Criterion or Mark, has been of the nicest Consequence among the Jews; as also in several other Nations: according to Claudianus in the Epithalamium of Honorius, viz.—

“Et vestes Tyrio Sanguine fulgidas

“Alter Virgineus nobilitet Cruor:

“Tum Victor madido prosiliat Thoro,

“Nocturni referens vulnera prælii.

In short, many Philosophers, as well as Poets, hold This for an infallible Symptom.