How to Sweet Talk Your Lady, 1656

woodcut of man embracing woman on bed

Instructions for Lovers: teaching them, how to demean themselves towards their Sweet-hearts. You must not accost them with a shrug, as if you were lowsie: With, ‘your Ladie’, ‘best Ladie’, or ‘most super-excellent Ladie’: neither must you let your words come rumbling forth, ushered in with a good full mouth’d, Oath, as ‘I love you’… But you must in fine gentle words, deliver your true affection: Praise your Mistress Eies, her Lip, her Chin, her Nose, her Neck, her Face, her Hand, her Feet, her Leg, her Waste, her every thing.

Cupids Master-piece, or, The Free-school of Witty and Delightful Compliments

Some dos and don’ts for addressing your most super-excellent lady! Don’t say “I love you.” Do praise her various body parts. (Careful with that 17th-century spelling, though: it’s her waist you want to praise.)

See here for more amorous compliments.