[A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye contayning a hundred and ten Phylosophicall Flowers] [by Isabella Whitney] |
 |
A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye: contayning a hundred and ten Phylosophicall Flowers. &c. |
|
 | [A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye |  |
A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye: contayning a hundred and ten Phylosophicall Flowers. &c.
I
Such Freendes as haue ben absent longmore ioyful be at meeting
Then those which euer presēt are
and dayly haue their greetyng.
II
When peryls they are present, thendoth absence keepe thee free:
Whereas, if that thou present werte
might dangers light on thee.
III
The presence of the mynd must bepreferd, if we do well:
Aboue the bodyes presence; for
it farre doth it excell.
IIII
Yet absēce, sōtimes bringeth harme,when Freends but fickle are:
For new acquaintāce purchase place
and old doo lose their share.
V
What profit things that we possesdoo by their presence bring
We can not know: til by their lacke,
we feele what harmes do spring.
VI
For to abound in euery thing,and not their vse to know:
It is a pinching penury:
wherfore, thy goods, bestow.
VII
A saying olde, once out of sight,and also out of minde:
These contraries, that absent frends
much ioy at meeting finde.
VIII
Well yet, for the Antiquitie,it grew amongst the rest:
And true it proues, by those whose minds
Obliuion hath possest.
IX
Care not how mani things thou hastbut haue a great regarde:
That they be good, for quantytie,
doth merite no rewarde.
X
Yet so thou must increase thy stockas cleare thine owne it be:
And neither fleece thy friend, nor seke
thy neighbours beggerye.
XI
We easely may abuse the greatand chiefest thing of all:
But hard it is to vse a right,
such as are trifles small.
12
Our eares we must not euer ope,to each mans accusation:
Nor without tryall, trust too much,
to any ones perswation.
13
A fault right greater seemeth far,on the accusers part:
Then it on the Defendants doth
much more should be his smart.
14
Thy Friends admonysh secretly,of crimes to which they swarue:
But prayse them openly, if so be,
their deeds do prayse desarue.
15
In euery check, vse some faire speachfor words do sooner pearce
That playnly passe, then those which thou
wt rughnesse might reherse.
16
Admonisht be with willingnesse,and paciently abyde
A reprehension, for such faults,
as friends in thee haue spide.
17
Those precepts which in youthfull yearesare printed in thy brest:
Wyll deepest diue, and do more good
then euer shall the rest.
18
You must not suffer youth to raingnor stray abrode at wyll:
For libertye doth lewdnesse breed,
wherfore preuent that yll.
19
The vigor of our youth, no whitdoth differ from the Flower:
Which for a time doth florish fayre,
and quickly lose his power.
20
Whilst thou art yong, remember thatthyne Age approcheth fast:
And folow thou the steps of such,
whose lyfe doth euer last.
21
In youth to thee such learning getas it may make thee wise:
So people shall in elder yeares,
come seeke thy sage aduise.
22
The inclinations of our youth,desyres that thence doth spring:
Foreshew what fruict in future tyme
our ripened age wyll bring.
23
No hope of goodnesse can be hadof hym, who spends his prime,
In liuing so lycentious,
that he respects no crime.
24
That mind which sensual appetitesin youth doth blyndly guyd:
To Age do bodyes yeld deformde,
because they wandred wyde.
25
How vaine it is for crooked Agehis youth for to requyre:
So ist for youth that childish yeares
would willingly desire.
26
Olde people deeme them nearer deaththen those that youthfull seeme
But youth is proaner to his end,
and lesse doth lyfe esteeme.
27
Great cruelty it is for vs,to vse a churlysh check
To any, when aduersitie,
hath brought them to a wreck.
28
None in aduersitie hath help,except they prospered haue
And by ye menes haue purchast frends
of whom they ayde may craue.
29
If miserie thou wouldest not know,liue dangerlesse thou must
Or els to taste of troubles great
thou shalt, though thou wert iust.
30
Prosperitie wyll get thee friends,but pouertie wyll crie
For then, except they faythfull are
apace from thee they flye.
31
Tis better with the truth offend,then please with flatteryng words
For truth at lēgth shal kepe thee safe
when to ther cuttes lyke swords.
32
To all men be thou liberall,but vse to flatter none,
Nor be familyer but with few
which nomber make but one.
33
A fawning frende wyll at the lengtha frowning foe approue
The hate of such is better sure,
then their deceatefull loue.
34
She that is an Adulteresseof euylles is a sea:
Her wickednesse consumes her selfe
and husband doth decay.
35
Men doo by emulation,of others, proue the same
In euery yll as custome is,
so commonly we frame.
36
Those strokes which mates in mirth do geuedo seeme to be but light:
Although somtyme, they leue a signe
seemes greuous to the sight.
37
All men thou shalt thine equal makeif thou such playnesse vse
As thou not fearest, nor yet art feard,
nor art, nor doest abuse.
38
Whylst haires are hidden craftelyAge doth himselfe bewray:
For wyll we, nyl we, h'eele appeare,
when youth is chaste away.
39
Children are lykened to the springand Stripplings to the Sommer.
And yongmē, thei ar Autumpne like
and olde men wery winter.
40
Haue thou accesse alwayes to suchlet such resort to thee:
As temper all their talk with truth,
and are from enuie free.
41
When Bretheren be at varience,how should the enemyes gree?
When frends fall out among themselues.
who shal their dais men be?
42
A friendly mind, accoumpt it forthe neerest of thy kyn:
When al shal fayle, it sticks to thee,
what euer chaunce hath byn.
43
Affection is of force so stronge,that other qualities:
He deemeth to be lyke himselfe,
and doth no worse surmise.
44
Let thine affections ruled be,least that they do thee rule:
For then no strength wil thee availe
nor back canst thou recule.
45
The sorowfull do think it death,to linger in this lyfe:
And wish to be desolu'd therof,
therby to stint their stryfe.
64
What s'ere it bee that doubtful is,grauntes health th' aflicted tyll:
He vtterly denyes that he,
to health restore him wyll.
47
The Plowman is accompted smalhis reputation none:
Yet of the members in a Realme
of chiefest he is one:
48
At diceplaying, he that excellesand counningstly can play:
In my conceat, for wickednes,
may beare the price away.
49
Prease not too hie, but haue regardeyf thou should chaunce to fall:
From hie might kyl, frō mean might hurt
alow stand sure thou shall.
50
The man that is ambicious,doth lose such honour oft:
As he hath got, whē Fortune pleasd,
to set him vp aloft:
51
When Potentats ambicious are,the poore men, they are wrackt,
When Realmes deuide within themselues
no cities are vnsackt.
52
He that is voyd of any friend,him company to keepe:
Walkes in a world of wyldernesse,
full fraught with dangers deepe.
53
Iudge of a friend ere friendship bebut when thou hast him tryde:
Then maist thou trust, & eke beleeue
as thou his doyngs spyde.
54
The falt which in thy frend, yu seemstto suffer, or permit:
Thou gilty art, therof thy selfe,
not punishing of it.
55
So oft as faithfull friends departso oft to dye they seeme:
To seperate, the griefe is great,
but absence is extreeme.
56
Accompt so euer of thy friend,as he thy foe may frame
So beare thee, that in enmytie,
he thee procure no shame.
57
To all men vse thou equytye,show faith vnto thy friende
In euery thyng that thou pretendst,
do styll respect the ende.
58
By benefits vnto thy friende,show thyne abilytie:
And that thy foes may know ye same
thine Iniuryes let flye.
59
Al things with frends in cōmon areat least it should be so
That pleasures might imparted bee
so like wise grief, or woe.
60
The poore, they haue no frends at alfor to participate,
The sorow and the griefe they finde
in their most wretched state.
61
In louing, ech one hath free choyce,or euer they begin,
But in their power it lyeth not,
to end when they are in.
62
The angry louer flatterethhimselfe with many lyes:
And fondly feedeth on such toyes
as fancy doth deuise.
63
Ech louer knoweth what he lykesand what he doth desire,
But seld, or neuer doth he know,
what thing he should require.
64
In time, may loue, by peecemeale weareand wither cleane away:
But presently to pluck his rootes,
in vayne you do assay.
65
The louers teres, wil soone appeasehis Ladyes angry moode:
But men will not be pacified,
if Wemen weepe a flood.
66
As Poets fayne, ye Gods thēseluesin loue could vse no wyt:
Then mortall men may be allowde,
such follyes to commit.
67
The yongmen when they are in louemay profit gaine therby:
But in the oulde, it is a fault
for they should loue defye.
68
If loue haue geuen thee a blow,and that thou art vnsound,
Make meanes that yu a plaster haue,
of them which gaue the wound.
69
When secret loue once kindled is,twill burne with fiercest flame:
The surest way to be beloued,
is fyrst to doo the same.
70
The louer which doth looke aloft.and doth submission hate:
Shal haue a slip, or answered be,
that he is come to late.
71
Who s'ere they be, the lawes of louehath guided for a season:
It is a doubt, that neuer more.
they will be ruld by reason.
72
The cough it is so cumbersome,that none the same can hide:
So loue ful fraught wt foolish toies
may easely be espyde.
73
The formost step to wisdome is,from loue to keepe thee free:
The second for to loue so close,
that none the same may see.
74
An olde man when he is in loue,of him this may we deeme:
Of all hard haps and chaunces fel,
he hath the most extreeme.
75
The loue of wicked persons must,be got by wicked-meanes:
Make thine accompt, when yu hast done
and geue the deuil yt gaines.
76
Affection fond deceaues the wiseand loue maks men such noddyes
That to their selues they seeme as dead
yet liue in other boddies,
77
A vertuous man, yt hath the feareof God: before his eyes:
Is sure in safetie for to walke,
for all his enemyes.
78
No credit geue, or not to much,to that which thou doest heare,
If that out of a troubled minde
thou spyest it to appeare.
79
The bow that euer standeth benttoo far wyll neuer cast
The mind which euermore is slack,
doth badly proue at last.
80
Such minds, as are disposed welbrings wanderers to the way:
And redy are with helping hand,
to such as go astray.
81
Of worldly things, the chiefest isa well contented mind:
That doth dispise for to aspyre,
nor gapeth gifts to fynde.
82
If thou doest yll, it forceth notwhat mind thou shewest therto,
Because thy mind cannot be seene,
but that which thou doest do.
83
A lothsome sight, God knowes it isa fickle mind to see:
It shuld be pure for to reiect,
that vile impuritie.
84
Our yeares & dayes wax worse and worsemore greuous is our sorow:
He thats vnfyt to mend to day,
wyll worser be to morow.
85
The present dai we cannot spendas we the same should do
Except to count it as our last,
we frame our selues vnto.
86
As ours do please some other men,so theirs doo vs delight:
Which shews our yl cōtented mind
that often works vs spight.
87
He that with his owne weapon isdispatched of his lyfe:
Twice slayne he is, because himself
was kyld with his owne knyfe.
88
Those promises which are forgot,be not for aye neglect
They may perfourmed be at last,
and haue their full effect:
89
A miserable griefe it is,by him to haue a harme
On whō we dare not once cōplaine
nor can our selues him charme.
90
Their sight is weake yt waxeth dimto see another blinde
And very little comfort shall,
th' afflicted by them finde.
91
A pleasure yll, and profyt noneit is, delight to make,
In th' use of any neighbours goods
for which they paynes did take.
92
He is not much deceiu'd, whose sutefull quickly hath denyall
Nor can he say, that he had cause,
to linger for the tryall.
93
Full hard it is, and hazard greatto keepe for any while:
A thing that ech one lusteth for
for some wyll thee beguile.
94
Do not accompt ye for thine owne,which may from thee be take:
But much exteeme such tresure, as
wyll neuer thee forsake.
95
The day doth dally so with vs,that we can neuer know:
For what to wish, from what to flie
what workes vs weale or woe.
96
He doth not soone to ruyne comethat feares it ere it fall:
But may prouide it to preuent,
if Fortune graunt he shall.
97
Ask nothing of thy neighbour, thatthou woldst not let him haue:
Nor say him nay, of yt which thou
woldst get, if thou didst craue.
98
If that thou minded are to geueaske not if they wyll haue it
For so, they eyther must denye
or seeme that they do craue it.
99
It gloryous is, to geue all thingsto him that naught doth craue:
So lykewise let him nothing get
that euery thing would haue.
100
Whilst that thou hast fre libertieto do what lykes thee best:
Thou soone mayest se into thy selfe
what disposytion rest.
1001
That Lawyer, which is chose to pleadfor rich & mighty men:
Must either let the trueth go by,
or lose their friendship then.
1002
A little gould in law wyll make,thy matter better speede:
Then yf thou broughtest of loue as much
as might in kindreds breed.
1003
Gold sauours wel, though it be gotwith occupations vile:
Yf thou hast gold, thou welcōe art,
though vertue thou exyle.
1004
Such poore folke as to law do goe,are dryuen oft to curse:
But in meane while, the Lawyer thrusts
the mony in his purse.
1005
A hasty tonge, which runs at largenot knowing any measure,
It is a wicked thing that makes
the minde repent at leasure.
1006
Two eyes, two ears, & but one tongDame nature hath vs framed
That we might se, and heare much more
thē shuld wt tōg be named.
1007
Kepe wel thy tong, & kepe thi frindyll vsde, it causeth foes
In vttryng things, commit to thee
thou faithfull friends doest lose.
1008
Seke not ech man to plese, for thatis more then God bids do:
Please thou the best, & neuer care,
what wicked say therto.
1009
Of wicked men to be dispraysd,for prayse do it accompt:
If they commend, then art yu mad
so doth their credit mount.
10010
When as the wicked are in midstof all their iolitye:
Misfortune standeth at the dore,
and skornes the same to see.
FINIS.
| [A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye | |