Like untuned golden strings all women are,
Which long time lie untouched, will harshly jar.
Vessels of brass oft handled brightly shine.

The speaker uses two domestic metaphors—musical strings and brass vessels—to argue that women, like instruments or household metalware, require regular “handling” to remain pleasing. “Untuned golden strings” that lie “untouched” will “harshly jar,” while brass “oft handled” will “brightly shine.” Read in context, the lines reflect a misogynistic early modern commonplace that frames women’s value in terms of male attention and sexual/romantic use, treating female desire and constancy as something to be maintained by continual engagement. The imagery also suggests anxiety about neglect leading to discord, implying that absence or abstention produces disorder rather than virtue.