In the introduction of the poem And if I Did, What Then, Gascoigne is describing his mistress laughing when he accuses her of cheating on him. His mistress states in the first stanza, “And if I did, what then? /Are you aggriev’d therefore? /The sea hath fish for every man, /And what would you have more?” (Gascoigne 1.1-4). This shows that she is flippant about it, laughing at him, not caring that he found out. The mistress is telling Gascoigne that even if she did cheat on him, he won’t be able to do anything about it.
Nearing the conclusion of the poem, in stanza number 6, in the poem And if I Did, What Then, Gascoigne declares, “And when they stick on sands, / That every man may see, / Then will I laugh and clap my hands, / As they do now
