Rvbbe, and A great Cast | ||
Epigram. 87. Uitia virtutis speciem induunt.
Vice thought it once her onely grace,T'Immaske her selfe with vertues face,
Now shee abhorres those idle shifts,
And stands vpon her owne good gifts:
Knowing the worlds opinion
Hath made her the worlds Minion.
When Pride is counted Decency,
And Wrath reputed Ualiancy;
Enui's held for Emulation,
Sloth a life in Contemplation;
When all commend the Gluttony
Of Ægypts Queene and Antony;
And to be drunken once a weeke,
'Tis a Gentleman-like tricke,
Besides the wholesomenesse they vrge
O t'is Physicke, 'twill the body purge;
And Letchery; ô God forbid,
There should bee sinne in such a deed,
Why it breeds loue, begets delight,
Besides the world is peopled by't.
Dissembling and Hypocrisy,
Showes Wisedome, and showes Policy;
The world it selfe's turn'd Macheuill
In practising and praysing ill.
My selfe too, that can well become
A Romane when I am at Rome,
And otherwise when otherwhere
English, Scotch, Irish, whatsoe're;
Am willing sometime to traduce
To wanton sense my merry Muse,
Holding it foolish modesty
And say I do write ribaldrous,
It is a vice held vertuous.
Rvbbe, and A great Cast | ||