Ayres and dialogues For One, Two, and Three Voyces. By Henry Lawes ... The First Booke |
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To Mr. HENRY LAWES, who had then newly
set a Song of mine in the Year, 1635.
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 | Ayres and dialogues |  |
To Mr. HENRY LAWES, who had then newly set a Song of mine in the Year, 1635.
Verse makes Heroick Vertue live,But you can life to Verses give:
As when in open aire we blow
The breath (though strain'd) sounds flat and low,
But if a Trumpet take the blast,
It lifts it high, and makes it last:
So in your Ayres our Numbers drest
Make a shrill sally from the Brest
Of Nymphs, who singing what we pen'd,
Our Passions to themselves commend,
While Love Victorious with thy Art
Governs at once their Voyce and Heart.
You by the help of Tune and Time
Can make that Song which was but Rime.
NOY pleading, no man doubts the Cause,
Or questions Verses set by LAWES.
For as a window thick with paint
Lets in a light but dim and faint,
So others with Division hide
The Light of Sense, the Poets Pride,
But you alone may truly boast
That not a syllable is lost;
The Writer's and the Setter's skill
At once the ravish't Eare do fill.
Let those which only warble long,
And gargle in their throats a Song,
Content themselves with Ut, re, mi,
Let words and sense be set by Thee.
ED. WALLER, Esquire.
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