 | Miscellaneous works of George Wither |  |
III. To those who enquire, why this Author is now imprisoned in Newgate?
Into this Jayl, you ask me, why I'm thrown?
But to my self that is not fully known;
Unless it may be charged as a Crime,
For putting Truth and Reason into Rime;
Or, giving unto some, for doing wrong,
Such Epithites as unto them belong;
Which is by very few thought criminal,
And, by most men, to be no fault at all.
But to my self that is not fully known;
Unless it may be charged as a Crime,
For putting Truth and Reason into Rime;
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Such Epithites as unto them belong;
Which is by very few thought criminal,
And, by most men, to be no fault at all.
Yet, since you are my Friends, I bold will make
To give you Counsel, which I could not take:
Touch not a gald Jades back, although it be
To cure him, if you will be rul'd by me;
And if your Conscience force you not thereto,
No notice take, when other men misdo.
For, they, who most ungodly courses run,
(And boast of what they wickedly have done)
So rage at him, who dares to reprehend
Their Actions, howsoever they offend,
That oft-times by their pow'r they bring on him,
Those Penalties which were deserv'd by them.
To give you Counsel, which I could not take:
Touch not a gald Jades back, although it be
To cure him, if you will be rul'd by me;
And if your Conscience force you not thereto,
No notice take, when other men misdo.
For, they, who most ungodly courses run,
(And boast of what they wickedly have done)
So rage at him, who dares to reprehend
Their Actions, howsoever they offend,
That oft-times by their pow'r they bring on him,
Those Penalties which were deserv'd by them.
A Whore profest, though she would have men know
She is a Whore, will not be called so.
(Yea, though she could not live, were it not known
She lived by abusing of her own)
But, be fo wroth with him, who so shall say,
That she will scratch his eyes out, if she may:
At least, if she can do no more, will rayl;
Or, had she pow'r, commit him to the Jayl,
And for a Sland'rer prosecute him there,
As justly, as they do, who keep me here.
She is a Whore, will not be called so.
(Yea, though she could not live, were it not known
She lived by abusing of her own)
But, be fo wroth with him, who so shall say,
That she will scratch his eyes out, if she may:
At least, if she can do no more, will rayl;
Or, had she pow'r, commit him to the Jayl,
And for a Sland'rer prosecute him there,
As justly, as they do, who keep me here.
| Miscellaneous works of George Wither | |