This 1805 caricature of courtship gives a simple recipe for love and marriage (by Lurie & Whittle of Fleet Street):
- Two or three dears, and two or three sweets;
- Two or three balls, and two or three treats;
- Two or three serenades, given as lure;
- Two or three oaths how much they endure;
- Two or three messages sent in a day;
- Two or three times led out from the play;
- Two or three soft speeches made by the way;
- Two or three tickets for two or three times;
- Two or three love letters writ all in rhymes;
- Two or three months keeping strict to those rules,
- Can never fail making a couple of fools.
