University of Virginia Library

Other Essayes vpon more serious and sacred Subiects.

Mortall Life compared to Post, and Pare.

My Corollarie.

Wealth, like a Pegasus, doth runne, or Flee,
(As swift as Thought) especially from those
That nere are gladd, but when at game they bee,
Though all their Wealth thereby, in Post, they loose:
And so when Wealth away is posted quite
They runne away, or else play least in sight.

Written to the Right Noble, and well-accomplished Ladie the Countesse Dowager of Pembroke.

I grace inuoke, which had would make me pray,
To Thee (great Ladie, greate, and glorious to:)
I pray to Thee, as to a Comforts Staie,
Then, lett my comfort still, bee tyde thereto.
To Thee my whole Man is dyaphanall;
The Raies of whose Witts Eyes pierce through mee quite;
Who (like a Goddesse) seeth all in All
Which in me is, or Fowle, Faire, Wrong, or Right.
If ought be Faire, or Right in mee, it is
Not mine, but Thine, whose Woorth possesseth mee:
But if ought fowle bee in mee, or amisse,
I hate for That, for, that its not for Thee:
If I bee All amisse, I All assigne
To Shame, and Sorow sith no part is Thine.

Againe to Hir.

Faine would I write that Witt nere yet concea'ud,
But abiect Witt withstands my highe Desire:
So diuerse write, and weene, yet are deceaud,
For, Follies Flawes make light Witt so aspire.
Then, cease to write. Then, is Desire displeas'd.
Better Displease Desire, then Witt disgrace.
Disgrace on VVitt hath at this Instant seisd.
VVherefore? for halting. Then VVitt post apace
Vnto the Point: now, now, thy quicknesse show:
For, Fowrteene Lines thy Lymitts are, and They
Are at a Point. VVhat if they bee? I know
The more's my meede if now I VVitt bewray.
The last Line next ensues: your praise, & VVitt's behind,
For,

[_]

M

may

[_]

A

all

[_]

R

raise

[_]

Y:

your

[_]

P

Price

[_]

E

except

[_]

M

Men

[_]

B

beeing

[_]

R

rude

[_]

O

of

[_]

K

kind.

Written to the right Honorable, and most iuditious Lord William Earle of Pembrooke that now is.

Looke Lord with those sharpe Eyes of thine, with which (though larely open)
In seeing thou see'st the least ore sights old, new, or done, or spoken:
Looke on this Seale of simple Zeale, which though but courslie Carud,
Containes the Impresse of thy praise thy vertues haue deseru'd.
Truthes Hāds, VVealths Armes, VVits Eyes, Artes Tong, & wisedōs listning Eares
Preuent Times Course, yonge yeares, conceiuing, bring forth many yeares!
Faire featurd Soule! well-shapen Spright! in which subsisting bee,
Grace, Goodnesse, Glory: Three in one, and One including Three!
Grace, goodnesse giues, to Glory guides, such Guift, such Guide, such Glory
God gaue, you haue, yet hauing hold vnsure, to shunne Vaine-glorie.
So, so (sweete Lord) so should it bee; so was true Sapience Sourse,
More wise then all, most wise in this, knew Things had but their Course.
Who goes to Glory, Glorie shunes so shunes, so goes,, that yet
Uaine-glorie shund, true glorie gaind, may him in glorie sett.
Reade, Note, Search, Trie, Know, Show, Muse, Mount, aspird, againe descend;
The lower Soules sinck in themselues, the higher they ascend!
Tell mounting Witts thats too too light that Wisedome makes not weightie;
Tell Motion it is worse then madd whose Motors not Almightie.
Tel World its but the wayward Maze where Man is mazd and lost;
Tel State it stands on Airy Propps, by Stormes still turnd and tost.
Tel Wisedome shee is base if Shee mounts not aboue the Moone,
Tel Humors, and tell Humoristes, their Humors change too soone.
Tel Learning it is darke as Hell not mixt with light of Grace,
Tel Councell, and tell

At Lavv.

Councellors they oft mistake the Case.
Tel Bookes, though euer-blest some bee, yet are they but Informers,
Tel them they should more blessed bee if they were still Reformers.
Tel Artes they aske too much for Arte in asking all our time,
Tel Armes they do but worke their Harmes, by Armes, and Harmes that climbe,
Tel Earthlie Hopes they make vs seeke for that wee cannot finde,
Tel, tell Worlds-Blisse it wanteth force to breede true Blisse in Mynd.
Tel Sport it spoileth pretious Time, tell Time hees falslie true,
True in his Course, ins Custome false, away steales, yet pursues!
Tel Keasars (though they Cæsars are) their Nostrils Bound their breath;
Tel Life (though during like the Sunne) it subiect is to death.
Tel Wealth it wasts with earthlie Pompe, tell Pompe its but a Puffe,
Tel Glory shee must bide the girde of Enuies Counterbuff.
Tel, tel Fair-wordes, from fowle Mouthes sent, they feede, but fatten Fooles
Tel Friends true Frindshipps no where learnd but in true Vertues Schooles.
Tel, Loue that Hee an Idoll is; found, forgd adord by Fancie,
Tel Flesh-enraging Lust shee is a Soule-confounding Frenzie:
Tel Fauours they are Copper-gilt, vncertaine true, if true:
Tel Fooles when Shadowes come before, their Substance nill ensue.
Tel Lookes, where Loue in Triumph Tilts against vnfenced Eyes,
They Lookes alure, by Lookes like Lures, which seeme true, yet are lies.
Tel All that al is (al in All] beneath the Heaunly Coape,
A Dreame, a Shade, a toile of Spirite, a base betraying hope.
And lastlie tel thy Thoughts [sweet Lord] they in an Harr must rest
That Honor holds for Life, and liues to dy ere dispossest.
Here Sus Mineruam maist thou say, its true; yet say not so,
Because it comes from him that liues to dy vpon thy Foe.

Deus, ad quæ nos tempora reseruasti? Policarpus.

Meete not an Harlot, least thou fall into hir Snares. Ecclus. 9. 3.

Gratious is the end that ends all our paines.

When, when, ô when shall I bid life farewell
Wherein my Soule, and Body so ill fares?
My Soule within my Body, Loathes to dwell
Sith it doth dwell in such a World of Cares.
Wherein the best are Briers, that scratching, hold
What ere they catch vnto anothers harme:
Whose Tenter-hookt Armes do, in Loue, infold
No one but whom they spoile, and quite disarme.
Where Men loue Men, not for that Men they are
But simply for themselues; all whose respect
Is swallowed vp with self-respecting Care,
And commonly the Common good neglect.
Where Fashions are, then Formes, more various:
(Though scarse among a Million two are like)
Where the most iust are lest iniurious
Though Iustice their iniustice doth dislike,
Where Faces want no graces to allure
The Mynd to loue, so to betray the Mind:
An holy kisse, in show, showes to assure
The rather to faile Hope that seeks to find.
Where oft Religion palliates Policy,
And Saints are made a Sacrifice for State:
Yea, heaunly Powres for Earthly Maiesty,
Away goes all that lets Ambitions gate.
Where holy Fathers do vnholy Deeds
While yet they blesse their Sons that cloak their shame:
And so the Hart of Piety still bleeds
Because Hypocrisie still wounds the same.
Where all is seeming, and Nought reall is:
For all do couet only but to seeme:
Ill seemeth good, and sorrow seemeth Blisse,
And Men, but by their show do men esteem.
Where the whole frame of Natur's out of frame,
And at the point to be dissolued quite:
Where VVit and Learning are both blind, and lame,
Yet scorne, through pride, a Guide to leade them right.
VVhere no man hath an Eare to heare, sith Eares
Are now turnd all to Tongues, or Teeth, to gnaw:
If one haue Eares none but himselfe he heares,
As bound thereto by self-loues lawlesse law.
Where Loue, and Lordship can no Riualls beare,
That yet should beare with all that Grace doth brooke,
Where euery thinge amisse is euery where
And nought found good vnlesse it be in looke.
Where vertue is despised though bright she bee,
Yf she be bare; Yet Venus, bare, is lou'd:
Where nought hath tast els, that is bare to see
Yea, Truth it self if bare, is not approud.
Where all and some make but the sum of al
Vainst Vanities; for so at best they be:
VVhere each one riseth by anothers fal,
Yet mounts in vaine, for quickly fal must he.
So on this Sorrowes Sea, [this VVorld of VVoe]
Al falls to Earth, that riseth from the same:
And so all Earthly Things do ebb and flo,
And ebb in nature, as they flow in name.
Then ô haue I not reason to desire
My Natures dissolution, sith it is
VVith these Ills conuersant, which do conspire
To make it [like them] more then most amisse?
Then, Death (the end of Il vnto the good)
Enshore my Soule neer drownd in flesh, and bloud.

Quotidie est deterior posterior dies.

How many piercing Pens haue launct the Vaines
Of this vaine World, to let her humors out?
How many Satyres beate their tried Braines
How, from this Ioynt sick Age to bite the Gowt?
And yet like those anoyd with that disease,
These Times haue rather rest then helpe thereby:
For they displease them that do them displease;
So rest renengd, but toild in malady.
And oft those Surgeans are as humorous
As are the Aches which they seek to heale;
Who hauing Teeth, as sharp as mumerous,
Through others, bite themselues, which seld they feele.
Because themselues are senselesse of their Ills
Which this obseruing World perceiuing well
Measures their Medicines by their wicked Wills
So loths their Corsiues, and themselues doth quell.
But he that looks with well-discerning Eyes
Into the worlds ineuitable woes
Shal see it sick of mortal maladies;
And wil (as from the plague] flie far from those.
I see them well (though wel I canot see
Sith I am Hood-winckt still with darke desires]
And I confesse the World's the worse for me
Though to the best my Spirit at worst aspires.
Faine would I leaue this fardle of my Flesh
In Fastings Charge; the lighter so to flye
From these still following plagues which are most fresh
When we are weariest of their company.
But, lo the World still rounds me in the eare
With Wind that sweetly in that Organ sounds,
Which me alures to loue mirth, ioye and Cheare:
So downe it beates my wil when it rebounds.
Thus the Worlds heauy and vnholy hand
My Sprit suppresseth that would faine aspire;
And with my Flesh, conspires it to withstand
With whom the Diuel ioynes in that desire.
Thus do I rest in that Church militant,
Which still with stands these three stil fighting Foes
Stil warring with them til that strength I want
To gard, with grace, their most vngratious Blowes.
Then through my weaknesse am I forcd to yeeld
VVho then, like Tyrants, triumph in my spoile
And wrack my Hopes best haruest in the Field
VVhich they haue got, so, feareful make my foile:
And thus twixt good, and euil, Sin, and grace,
I stil do, striuing, run a tedious Race!

Enuy is blind and can do nothing but dispraise Vertue.

The best conceit that euer Braine did breede
(Though better borne then bred, or first conceau'd,
May in good birth, yet haue such euil speed,
That scarse the spirit of life may be perceaud:
For, Emulation hath no patience
(No more then Ignorance) to stand vpon
The narrow search of strict Intelligence
But dooms it dead, sith it liues so alone.
That liues alone that singularly liues
VVhich is the life of Singularity:
To liue that life stil Emulation striues
Or to obserue his skill that liues thereby.
Enuy seemes pois'ned with anothers praise,
Which as those praises swell, swells more, and more;
Who, worne to nought, hir selfe (yet) only waighes,
And weighes no others woorths, vnlesse too poore.
But that shee seeketh to enrich alone,
Not of Deuotion, but of damd desire
To make the greater woorth the lesser knowne:
For shee doth most ecclipse what is most cleir.
Whie toile we then? or lose our golden Sleepes
To gāine (with golden Time) more glorious praise?
Sith basest Enuy, highest Honor keepes,
By whose dispight hir glorie oft decayes.
It is because the longer after Death
Our Fames do flee, the longer breathe they shall:
For, Enuies winde doth vanish with our breath;
And when our harts breake, broken is hir Gall:
Then this doth comfort all that merit fame
Vertue liues when Enuy dies with shame.

Vincit qui pætitur.

To seeke for ease where wee are borne to toile
Is but to rest in toile, and toile in rest:
To toile for ease where Slouth may worke our spoile,
Is but, by ease, to bee ease dispossest:
They fish, and catch a Frogg, which so do fishe
That, saue the Soules repose, catch all they wishe,
Its better farre to giue our Soules to rest
In Patience, then in Pleasures, sith they doo
Sweetly (like rubbings of an Ytch) molest,
But, Patience gladds vs while Paines us vndoo;
Then, giue mee Patience, and let Pleasure go,
As that which workes, in sport, our ouerthro.
That comfort I detest that takes from mee
Vncessant sorrow, for vncessant sinne:
Nor, loue I that sharpe sight that all doth see
Saue onely That which is my selfe within:
That Knowledge is as coorse as counterfett,
That makes Men vtterlie them selues forget.
Giue mee an Hell of paine, so I may haue
The Heauen which a Conscience sound doth giue:
Sith hee is but vncessaunt Sorrowes Slaue,
That, sick in Soule, in pleasures Heau'n doth liue:
If Patience Hiue the Soule in Sorrowes Swarmes,
She Heau'n enioyeth in an Hell of Harmes.
Who rightlie knowes him selfe, him selfe contemns:
And though men clappe their hands in his applause,
Yet hee their praises, with him selfe, condempnes
By euidence of Conscience, & hir Lawes:
The cause why others flatter vs, with ease,
Is, wee our selues our selues too wel do please.
How much the more our knowledge al surmounts
So much the lower we in in Hel shal fal,
If, when we come to make our last accounts,
Our vertue be not found much more then al:
And simply better t'were from Sinne to flee,
Then cunningly Define what Sinne should bee,
With brightest Knowledge to liue most obscure
Is to find Hea'n, which in that Light doth lie:
Yet like the Sunne, through thick Clouds couerture,
To light the World that Men may walke thereby:
So, doth the Highst obscure him selfe from sight
While all that see, do see but by his Light.
What neede wee seeke quaint words, & Phrases fine
Sith by one Word all Truth is knowne alone;
Which Word made al things by his pow'r Diuine:
So, all things by that VVord are only knowne:
Then, they that learne this onelie World to know
Know more then World, or Witt it selfe, can show.
All other Knowledge doth but vex the Sp'rite,
Though hir it makes much more intelligent:
In it, alone, is Knowledge, with Delight;
Sith it the Witt, doth cleere, the Will, content;
Then they that know this single-simple Worde
Do know much more then Knowledge can afforde.
No State so holie, nor no Place so Sole
(Much more no Science) but is full of Doubt:
Cares, creeping, fill each solitarie Hole;
And many more vexations swarme without:
And till wee leaue the World, or wayward Will,
Wee beare with vs a VVorld of trouble still.
Then, tis not shun'd by flight, vnlesse wee could
Flie from our selues, (our aduersaries chiefe:)
For, while our selues our selues haue fast in hold,
Wee hold our selues to Sinne, and so to Griefe:
For, they that griue not when they do transgresse,
Short pleasures feele, not extreame wretchednesse
The lack of VVill in faith still fixt to bee
Is the sole cause wee want our true repose:
For, who so blinde as they that will not see,
And, who more subiect to hard ouerthrowes:
Ineuitable Sorrowes still attend
On none but on the wilfull, past their end!
To shunne the Tempter wee must shut the Gate
Of our Intelligence against his Charmes;
Or, lest he should our Will predominate,
Repulse him from our VVitt, by force of Armes:
If yet he stands, vpon him straight Discharge
Truthes double

The old, and nevv Testamēt.

Cannon, with a double Charge.
Then will he flie, or if he stands, he falls;
For, nothing can resist his Ordinance
VVho makes the meekest Mindes his Generalls
That, yeelding, fight, and foile by sufferance:
O tis a wondrous Conquest when a Foe
By ouercomming hath the ouerthro!
The longer wee forbeare him to withstand
The weaker are wee when wee do resist,
And much the stronger is hee to commaund;
For, Thoughts are actiue when they do persist:
Because Thoughts trauell, with Delight, in paine,
Till He bee borne, and they conceaue againe.
Greate Troubles well are borne, by bearing small
As Milo bare a Calfe, turn'd Bull at last;
They in the roughest Tempests needs must fall
That are orethrowne with eury little Blast:
In Summe, the Summe of all our earthlie ioy
Is in our patient bearing all annoy.

Againe.

[If Hope and Patience did not hold the Hart]

If Hope and Patience did not hold the Hart
From being squiz'd to nought with gripes of griefe
It could not bee, by Nature, nor by Arte,
But Death would hold that Seate of Life, in chiefe:
For, in this Life Deathes do so multiplie
(Or Dolors, at the best, farre worse then Deathes)
That wee do liue no longer then wee die.
VVho lyuing die, and breathing spend our breathes.
So that in patience, only wee possesse
The Soules we haue, which haue the Liues we hold;
And Hope sustaines the Soule in heauynesse:
So patient hope is fraile Lifes strongest Hold.
If both those vertues then in one must ioyne
To make our Soules, and Bodies ioyne in one
(Els Death, and Dolor, will fraile Life purloyne
VVho ioyne to vnioyne that Coniunction.)
VVee must inuoke the Heaun's to giue vs Hope
VVell arm'd with Patience, sith wee liue thereby
Secur'd in Dolors, which to Death lie ope,
And makes vs liue, when Death and Dolors die.
Then, patient Hope, the Soule of our Lifes Soule,
Arme thou my Soule thereby to gard hir life,
And Passions furie with thy pow'r controule;
So shall I striue in rest, and rest in strife:
For no way looke I, but my sights annoyd
VVith Troopes of Sorrowes, menacing my wrack;
And, in my spacious Mynd, no place is voyd
For Campes of Cares that seeke my Soule to Sack:
For if I liue, I can but liue in sinne:
And if I sin (I ioy) I can but grieue,
So when sin ends, my griefs and Cares begin
And cease not til I cease to sin, or liue,
Yet, what I would He knows that knowes my wil,
Which [though peruerse] is prest his grace to serue:
Which Grace ingenders Hope on my Good wil
And makes me patient, sith I ill deserue.
Thus patient Hope, by Grace got on my Will,
Doth make me wel to liue, in spight of Ill.

In vindicando criminosa est celeritas.

Whhat gaine gets witlesse Courage but the losse
Of Life, or Limb, Lands, Contry, Goods, or fame,
Or to the Gallowes goes by weeping Crosse,
And, desprate, dies to his Soules death, and shame.
Would any that had Courage, Wit, and Grace
(As point to part this life) Mans life bereaue
To make a crying Sin his Soule to chase,
And neuer, till she dies, the Chase to leaue?
None would that would be wise and valiant:
Then so we ought to liue, as dying stil,
Sith of our death our life is ignorant
Then who (but Fiends) would liue in Hel, to kil?
Admit in priuate Quarrels (fist to fist)
Thou hast slaine al that durst thy powr oppose:
Nay say that no man durst the same resist
Sith like a God, thou couldst of life dispose,
Were it humane? much lesse were it diuine
To glory but in bathing but in bloud?
Were it not sauage, and too Leonyne
For any that would faine be great, and good?
O Then what Quarrell but the publike one
Can make a wise, and valiant man to fight?
What staine takes honest reputation
By taking wrong, to make it selfe more right?
Can but the Lye (one silly Sillable)
(By Time made much more hainous then by Truth)
Make great men make their Humors sutable,
To Horsleaches, that haue, by bloud, their growth?
Or can the Loue but of an hateful Queane
[For such no better be, though Queens they are]
Broche pretious bloud, as if that were the meane
To measure out sound Loue for such crackt Ware?
Can but an od Looke, or a simple Smile
(Which may be taken wel as wel as ill)
Make men their Harts and Hands with bloud defile:
So, bloud (like water) for but Looks to spil?
Then Men are Monsters, Monsters! al too good
Is eu'ry name that is too monstrous
For such as liue, alone, but to suck bloud,
Which al do hate, that are magnanimous:
For all great Minds desire such things to do
That are as good, as great; els, scorne the same
For Valor theyl be prais'd, and Vertue too,
Els Valor they esteem the price of Shame.
And no where can the same so wel be showne
As with offensiue Armes in Contries right:
And with defensiue, guard the ouerthrowne
From the Oppressors mercilesse despight.
Els Fights vnciuil, sauage, and too bad
For Beasts, much more for Men, whom Angels serue,
All Quarrels els, are monstrous, moody, mad,
And mortal hate of God and man deserue.
Yet by such sucking bloud we see some swel
Vnto that Greatnesse that they scarce can hold;
On Gore they ground great Howses where they dwel
VVhich often sink, in bloud, as Reason vvould,
Many that haue nought els but daring Harts
And leafe their Liues, for Nothing to Dispaire
On this Worlds Stage, do oft play Princes parts,
To which they climb by Bloud, a slppry Staire,
And desprate Resolution so is held
Vp by the Chin, while it doth bath in bloud
(By Greatnesse, of smal worth) that it doth weld,
The world at wil, and seld, if ere, withstood.
Yea, oft it makes Authority to shake
Sith they owe others liues that loath their owne;
And so it doth his owne Conditions make
As if it could at wil put vp and downe.
This Ladies loue; for, this doth Ladies win,
(Faint Hart they say, (Ile ow the rest for shame)
This is a VVorld-commanding gracefull sin
In the Conceit of each conceited Dame!
He that dares ioule together highest Heades
(Though he may faile in that too high attempt)
The High his haughty Resolution dreads,
VVhile he, as Crauens, holds them in Contempt.
Lo thus may Reason reason gainst a Wrong
That Passion doth approue, and vse, as right:
I vs'd [the more my vice] this vertue long
If it be Vertue vitiously to fight.
VVhat now! vaunts VVit, and vailes the same with skil?
Would it be knowne it was to Courage knit?
Do I condemn, yet glory in mine ill?
So, crack of Courage with, and without Wit?
Here lie I open to Wits priuy Nips,
Or open Thumps, lay on, Wit spare me not:
And Ile oreturne as thou shalt offer Trips
Sith through my weaknesse thou the best hast got.
Yet stay thy Wisedome, wit, and hold thy hand,
Vse thou the Conquest like a Conqueror:
That is, foile thou the ill which thee withstand;
But, let the faultlesse neuer feel thy powr,
For tis not simply ill a truth to tell,
(Though it perhaps be told for scarce good end)
And doubtful words, with Letters Loue doth spel
That alwaies only, doth the best intend.
But sith al those that know me, knew me such
As once I was, my Lines are of lesse force
(Vnlesse my hate, of what I was, I touch)
To dravv Sword-dravvers to a quiet Course.
For stealst thou Theefe, and yet exhorst to Truth?
Or Kilst thou Butcher, yet dehortst from Bloud?
Shal he perswade vs who reuenge pursuth
That mercy is the best reuenging mood?
I am turnd Crauen, and am held therein
By Loue, which holds for true diuinity,
That Faiths Deuotion is but deadly sin
If it be not deuout in Charity.
Then he that makes his life a lasting Brall
And seems to feed on nought but Wounds, and Gore
May pray for grace, to change his life withall,
But, other praiers make his sins the more,
And they that loue their sins to multiply
Stil let them pray in Hate, and thirst of Bloud:
So shal they liue (while they make others die)
To dy the death of Dogs, in damned moode.
Now, if this Charme of Words want violence
To make these brauing Spirits lesse bloudy-bold
And bring them into Loues Circumference,
Sufficeth me I Coniur'd as I could:
But, if thereby they wax more turbulent
I can but rue, but they shall more repent!

Blessed is the Man that doth meditate honest things by Wisedome. Ecclus. 14. 21.

Did Wisedome write, or speake the world to please
Shee were not wisedom in a pleasing Sence:
Then who doth please with any one of these
Doth please vnwisely, but the World, or Sence.
Then are they worldly wise, or sensual
That doe soe write or speake; but none of those
Can be in them whose words can sweeten Gall
Which Sweets do rest where sweetest Soules repose.
And they repose but in the Sweet of Sweets
[God only wise] or Bodies of the Blest:
In whom true Wisedome, Grace and Nature meets,
Whose gracefull VVords are naturally exprest.
If VVords inchaunt the Sense, and not the Soule
That Charme of VVords coniures no holy Spright:
For, Such, such VVords (not Such, such VVords) controule:
Soule-pleasing VVords must, then, bee rare, and right.
Yet though a Sonnet bee as right, as rare
For Number, Measure, VVaight, or Noueltie,
Yet, if it sounds so, but to Senses Eare,
The Soule, as harshe, doth hold that Hermonie.
Then all our Straines that relishe double Loue,
(Sweet double-Relishe, worthie treble praise)
To Soule, and Bodie) Soule and Body moue.
(VVith ioy) to listen, as to Angells Laies!
These bee the Aires that gett the Aire of Fame,
[Of Fame whose Aire, diuinely is refinde]
That feeds, with purest praise immortall Name;
Fitting the nature, of each mightie Minde.
And, they are only mightie that disdaine,
All that, that disagrees with Mightinesse:
As is light Loue, fraile Fancies, Shadowes vaine,
VVeake VVitt, base Blisse, VVorlds weale, or VVretchednes.
Then [as to Nature curst, but kind to Grace]
I here haue made a Rodd my selfe to beate,
VVhose highest reach in Straines of Loue, is base,
Sith Lightnesse measures them with heauie Feete.
Yet if this Lightnesse heauy make the Light
In Summing vp my Numbers totall Summe,
I hope the weight thereof, will bee of weight
Their Lightnesse [if it rise] to ouercome:
For, they are too Light that in Those but waigh
VVhat Lusters, not what Louers ought to say.

Sic transit gloria Mundi.

Life, stay; or if thou wilt not, let my Soule
Moue with thee to the Rest, Thou mouest to:
The Twyne, by which thou hangst, Time vp doth rowle
On Heau'ns round reeling Spheares, which thee vndoo:
Then ô my Soule let Truth thy Vertues woo.
To ioyne their Force t'inforce th'infirmitie
Of this Lifes excesse in Deficiency,
For, truth to say, wee Bee, and Bee not bothe;
Wee Bee, in show,, but Bee not as wee ought:
If then wee Bee not but in show, in sooth,
Wee Are as if wee Were not, Ought, and Nought,
Dying as soone as wee to Life are brought:
Twixt Generation, and Corruption
The Meane inclines but to destruction.
And, if we straine the Circle of our Thought
To comprehend some Essence of the same,
It is as if to catch a Shade we sought,
Or clos'd our Fist to hold the blast of Fame:
Yet, that is Aire, but Man is but in Name:
Then, looke how much a Name hath beeing found,
So much hath Man, which is a Sound, vnsound.
Vnsound it is: for, were it sound it were
That which fraile Man is nothing lesse then like:
For, Sounds haue Beeing: yea, they plaine appeare,
And, on the Organs of our Hearing strike:
Of which those Organs are, with vs, to seeke:
For, while the Sound resoundeth wee are gonne:
So, are wee Soūds that haue not Time, nor Tone!
Then, Reason seeking for a reall Thing
Of Humane-nature, fowly is deceau'd:
Because the same hath no continuing,
But runnes hir Race ere really perceau'd:
Whose Life, of Life, is instantlie bereau'd:
A Dreame? a Shade? ô no: its not so much,
A shadow of a Dreame, at most, is such.
That's the Similitude the Lord of Life
Doth vse to show our Liues vnbeeing Beeing:
What! in the World, where all things are so rife,
Is nought but Nothing to the same agreeing?
Which not appeares, nor scarse suppos'd by Seeing!
And, beeing scarse supposed: then it is
To Nothing next, or Nothing's like to This,
And, as we cannot bathe twice in one Brooke
Sith still it runnes the same and not the same:
So, twice on our Estats wee cannot looke
And see it One, so soone it alters Frame:
Wee are and are not straite, like Light'nings Flame:
At once wee go, and come ye, go, ere come,
VVhich is the Summe of all of All, and Some!
And, if wee liue long Lifs extremitie
VVee die as many Deathes as Ages liue:
The Life of Youth, is Death of Infancie:
The Death of Youth, doth Life to Manhood giue,
So, of the rest Death rests in Lifes Depriue:
To Day dies Yesterday, to Morrow shall
This Day bee dead, and Night's their funerall!
VVee change each Day as Dayes do rise, and fall:
And, what is chang'd continues not the same:
If not the same, the same Is not at all:
For, Change transformes the Nature, and the Name,
Our Passions are as fickle, as too blame:
Now This, then That, then next to This, and That,
Still changing, well I wott, t'I wott not what.
Thus, is our Sence deceaud, mistaking that
Which but appeares, for that which is, in deede,
And so our Sence, our Sence, doth Captiuate
To mis-conceit, Corrupting Fancies Creede,
VVhich taks Not-beeing in true Beeings steede:
For, that is truly-false what ere it is,
That is but true in Show, and so is This.
To BEE, in deede, æternall is to Bee,
To Bee æternall, is to Bee alone:
To Bee alone, excluds the Pronowne, VVee,
Yet VVee do stand by that Trin-Vnion,
Though wee therewith hold no Comparison:
And yet wee looke most like that Trinity
In Vnderstanding, VVill, and Memorie!
Tim's like a Leaking Vessell which containes
Both Generations, and Corruptions:
The Fates (like Danaus daughters) take the paines
To fill the same, as oft as out it runnes;
From whencè do flow Times daughters, Slaues, and Sonnes:
And these are Tearmes that to Times Turnes agree
Before, and After; Hath byn, and shall Bee.
Which show that no Time (but Æternitie)
Hath Beeing; for, wee cannot say that Is
Which yet, is not; and, Now, doth cease to Bee;
Or if wee say Time Is, Time shrinks at This;
Which cannot stand to proue that Terme for His:
For, NOW (the Notion, which Denoteth Time)
Is Past, while Present, and is Last, while Prime!
Then, if Time Bee, it is Past, or Future;
The Past, Is not; the Future, Beeing wants:
Because it is to come, and most vnsure,
For, Time still houers where no Beeing haunts,
Sith Time, and Beeing still are Discrepants:
Then, That (as erst was said) Eternall is
Which Is, in Deede, and only ONE is This!
Of whome it cannot properly be sayd
Hee Hath Byn, or Shall Bee: These Turnes of Time
Can neuer stand with That that's euer staid,
Yet farre aboue Times highest Turnes doth climbe,
And, is the First, and Last, and lasts in Prime:
Who by this NOW, spreads his Æternitie
Vnto the boundlesse Bounds of Deitie!
For, hee is ONE, and One Is, and no more!
For, as what Is, ought to bee onely ONE:
So, onely ONE ought to Bee euermore,
Which Is, still Is, Is, only, and alone
The Cause of All, And caused is of None!
To Him, alone, that Is, and only Is
Bee only Praise, sith Praise is only His!

Respice finem.

When as I heare Times sober Tongue (the Clock)
Call on me eu'rie howre to minde mine end.
It strikes ny hart with feare at eu'rie stroke
Because so ill Time, Life, and Breath I spend.
Then straight resolue I, to bestow them all
Vpon that Lord of all, that gaue them mee
When lo, the World vpon mee straight doth call
And bids me look to it, left poore I be,
Twixt these two Calls I parted am in twaine:
The first my Spirit, the last my Flesh attends:
So twixt them two my pleasure is but paine:
For each the other euermore offends.
Sin tenders me al Ioyes, that rauish Sence,
And Sense doth pine if from Them It be held:
Grace offers Ioyes of much more excellence,
And faine my Spirit would with Them be fild.
But in fraile Flesh Sense such a Cæsar is
That It Commands it to withstand the Sprit,
While it doth feed the Flesh with Earthly Blisse:
And so, my Sprite is vext with that delight.
Thus, while I am distracted in desire
Time (in his Language, after some Howrs pawse)
Tels me he flies, and bids me to retire
Before Confusion catch me in his iawes.
O Time (that thus endeerst me to thy loue)
I constantly adore thy ficklnesse,
That neuer mou'st, but dost my Sences moue
To mind thy flight, and this lifes trickelnesse.
O that I could make thee Æternity!
And honor thee, for this, vvith state diuine
That with the God of Glory, thou and I
Might, like the Sun and Moone, for euer shine!
Teach me, ô learned long-experienc'd Time
To glorifie thee with some heaunly Art,
Whose humble Muse would to thy Temples climb
To Lawrel-Crowne them, ere from Thee I part.
O let me be the Triton of thy praise:
Teach me to Trumpet foorth thyne Excellence:
Let me [though most vnworthy] grace thy Dayes
With all that may delight Intelligence.
Let me by thee [deer Time] be brought to Death
Ere I abuse thee in the least degree.
For, he wins Blisse that doth but lose his Breath
To be still found, from Times Abuses free.
Then now, ô now, (sith novv my Daies decline)
Let me this Moment enter in the Way
Of Vertue, Grace, and holy Discipline,
And being in, thence, let me neuer straie
Procrastination doth but Plagues protract,
Due to protraction of Conuersion:
Then, Time with Plagues my wayward Will Coact
To turne to Grace, ere my subuersion.
Let it suffice that I haue thee abusd
Since I was borne, in Wrongs not to be borne:
Then be thou, by me, hence foorth rightly vsd,
Or let me, by Thee, die, or liue forlorne:
For, I am wery, now of wronging Thee,
Then let me flee from Vice as thou dost Flee.

A blind man cannot see the default of his Eyes.

Well, what of this? this restlesse toile for State,
What is the end of that which Care begins?
And, without Worlds of Guifts, gets Worlds of Hate,
Is this the All Pride (at All casting) wins?
Must Truths Disciples, Graces Officers,
Sacred Apostles (Saints by calling) striue
For Headship by vnciuill ciuil Wars
Though they beleeue they meanly ought to liue?
Nay, but for this, if those resplendant Spirits
That do surround the highst Celestiall Throne
Aduance themselues aboue their place, and Merits
For which they worthily were ouerthrowne,
Then, Iudgement where dost thou enthrone thy State
That should be in the Kingdome of the Braine?
Dost thou that Seate (sith Pride vsurpes it) hate?
And only in the Humble dost thou raigne?
Then, where are they? true Iudgement tel me where?
If neither with the Angels, Saints, nor Men
They may be found, (as it doth well appeare)
Where shall we seek for these so humble then?
Or is the totall Summe of All, but One
Who was made truly humble for vs all?
And dost thou rest in him (meek Lamb) alone
Leuing vs to our selues to rise, or fall?
Then, woe to vs that mad are for thie want,
And doe we wot not what in what we doe:
Who seeke, for nought, each other to supplant:
For, Lordships haue their Lodes made fast thereto.
We striue for That which bringeth vs but strife
With griefe and care among, oft wrack vvithall:
We venter life, to win a vveary life;
And rise, by all meanes, by all meanes to fall.
So vve be vp but for a day, vve deeme
Our Neck vvel broken; ô its vvorth a Neck
But for an howre a King to Be, or seeme
Vnto his Mates before to giue the Check.
If vve can catch a place aboue our Peers
(Although vve come thereby by peerlesse sin)
We vveen vs no small fooles (as it appeares)
When vve [alas the vvhile] stark mad haue bin.
Such is our Iudgement, snch our temperance,
And such the stare of those that State affect;
Whose State, and Staie hath such continuance
As they that seek it; no time in effect!
Then, ô my Soule since thou canst thus discourse
(As many can whose Courses are stark nought)
Be better staid, or run a better Course
Far from the rise of any mounting thought.
Look in the Inwards of these outward Things;
And note the Lyning of the roialst Robe;
Its powdred Ermyne, pepperd to vvith Stings
That, like a Nettle, makes the vvearer rub.
If thou affect a Kingdome, let it be
Heaun, or the happy Kingdome of CONTENT:
Which blessed Kingdomes are ordaind for Thee
If thou affect but thine owne gouernment.
Be Queen but of thy selfe and thou shalt be
In Heaun Crownd vvith Immortality,
Where Saints, and Angels shall stil honor thee,
For swaying vvel thy little Signiory.
And sith thy Pilgrimage is almost past
Thou needst the lesse Viaticum for it:
For, being tird to lode thy selfe at last,
With needlesse Trashe, would show nor grace, nor witte.
Care for no more then thou maist beare, with speede,
To beare thy Charges through this Vale of woe.
Superfluous things giue others that haue neede,
The lesse thy Lode the better thou shalt goe.
Little serues soone-suffized Necessity
[Whose Stomack, smal and cold disiests not much)
But nothing can Opinion satisfie,
Which beeing more then ful for more doth grutche.
The greedy-ritch doe

Jnstructa inopia est in diuitijs cupiditas.

want the wealth they hold
Who pine with Tantalus amidst their Store;
And (Midas-like) eu'n famish with their Gold,
The more they haue, their misery thē more.
The next degree to Nothing Nature serues
Sith she wth lesse then Little is content,
The Hedge-rowes meate, the Riuer drinke reserues
To keepe her in good plight, and better bent,
The Birds finde meate for seeking euery where,
The Highest hand stil strowes it in their way;
And so may temprate men stil finde it there
Where ere the Birds doe finde their stomack Staie.
For Cresses, Rootes, Hippes Havves, Sloes, and such Cates,
Are Common, (as the Aire) to take, and eate,
This meate serues Nature though it serue not States,
And longest liuers had no other meate.
Let Gluttons glutt their Gutts vntil they crack
With all the Kickshawes Cookrie can deuise;
And let them lay on lode vpon their Back
Of gaudy Geare; thou needest none; then be wise.
Puft-panch doth soon'st the Kite a pudding yeelde;
Full Gorges belk, if not much rather spue,
Most fulsomely: for being ouerfilled,
It selfe with hate doth then it selfe pursue.
At Best; these ful Ones can themselues but stretche
Vpon their Iuory Bedds, or feede their lust:
For, they must still be feeding til they catche
That which wilfeede on them til they be dust.
And what's a costly Cote but comberous
Vnto the Maker and the Wearer too;
To keepe off cold and heate we Clothes shoulde vse,
Which Howse-wiues cloth doth Without more a doo.
And so the same be sound, and sweet, we may
In Clothing of that kind best stir, or stand;
When as these Garments ritch, and ouer gaie
Do rather vs, then vve do them, command.
If Garments must distinguish needs, Degrees
[Though Vertue makes the plainest Coat to shine]
Yet more then needs with no Degree agrees:
So saith King Iames, so saith the Word diuine.
No more of this; ynough, if not too much
(But nere too much against too much is sed)
Is sed hereof, and Great ones will but grutch
Sith with their Busines I am busied:
They hird me not: then, profferd seruice stinks,
No more my Muse; thy Lady on thee winks.

There is no greater plague then Boldnesse and Powr, when they are accompanied with Ignorance.

When Heaun and Earth, and al their Furniture,
Were made, their maker made Man last of al;
As being his Master-peece, chiefe Creature,
For whom the rest were made: He, Generall.
To whom such perfect Wisedom was assignd
That without Learning He knew all that was:
And namd each Thing according to their kind
VVhich Names, to vs (as we) from Him, do passe.
VVho being thus made (made, I may double say,
Sith He was double made, made Man, and Great:
Great, like his God, Gods Creatures all to sway)
And, in an Earthly-Heaun, held his Seat:
VVheras He would, He liud: so in his VVill
Rested His life, or death, His VVeale, or VVo:
And, while His VVil his Makers did fulfill
So long he knew but what he ioyd to know,
Hee knew al that was made was perfect good.
But knew, saue God, nought vnmade, perfect Euill)
And so He knew not, or misvnderstood,
The name and nature of the craftie Diuel.
He liu'd as free from VVant, as Wickednesse
As long as in his Good-wil was no want:
Then Earth bare fruit, vntill'd, in blest excesse:
For God himselfe the same did sow, and plant.
Riuers of Nectar ran an golden Sand
(With siluer-cleerenesse) through that Pardice;
That, had he thirsted, Drinke was strait at hand,
And all that might him free from preiudice.
The Tree of Life (to keep off Age, and Death,)
Ther stil did florish, in eternal springe:
So, like to Gods, immortall was His Breath:
For, all he Fedd on Health to Him, did bring,
So, his Flesh, health: His Spirit, tranquilitie
Enioyd, in height of highest excellence,
Which height came neere the high'st Felicitie:
For, with Him God still made his residence.
Hee naked was, and yet Hee knew it not:
For, Cold, or Heate could tell Him no such thing;
Much lesse could Shame: for, Shame of Ill's begott;
And Ill hee knew not, nor whence It did spring.
The Spring of ioy (the High'st) did euer feede
His passing pleasures Streames, with fresh supply:
So, still hee was as farr (in show, as Deede)
From want of Ioy, as ioyes sacietie.
The Cause whereof, in Him wrought rare Effects,
Who, without Labour, his Lords Heasts could keepe:
Whose Heart burnd, like a Beacon, with Affects
that show'd, in Danger, he did neuer sleepe.
Who if hee stirr'd, and exercis'd his Limbes,
T'was not for neede, but them to recreate:
Which stirr'd not till in Pleasures Seas he swimms:
For, still he bathd therein, in restfull state!
And yet the more those boundlesse Seas to make
With new Spring-Tides of Ioy, [as yet vnfelt)
God, of his Ribb, a fleepe, makes him a Make,
On whome, (awake) for ioy, his Hart doth melt.
And seeing Hir [for all he saw he knew]
Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh (said he)
This Creature is: for, in my selfe the grew,
And as my selfe Ile loue, hir while we Be.
This! nay (alas) This naught is to the Good
That He enioyed in that earthly Heaun,
Which by Mans Thought cannot be vnderstood.
Whereof [alas] we through him are bereaun:
For, He was warn'd but one Tree not to touch,
The Tree of Knowledge, by which well he knew
He naked was, and sham'd to know so much:
For Shame doth Euil euermore ensue.
Then euil was it that he knew, and did,
When through his serpentine seduced wife
He tasted of The Tree which was forbidd:
So, Lost wee, with Him, Paradice, and life,
None otherwise then by our Lawes wee see
The Sons plagu'd for the Sires successiuely;
For, if the Sire a proued Traitor be
Hees plagu'd him selfe, and his Posterity.
Which with highst Iustice, iust proportion holds;
So wills the Highst, whose Will giues Iustice forme
Whose Grace true Iustice euermore infolds
Then neither can or will he It deforme.
Hence comes it that from Loue we fall to Lust
(Fowle Lust thats but the Excrement of Loue)
And hence it is we proue in both vniust
When Lust another Way our Mind doth moue.
Thus was a Woman made the Instrument
Wherewith the Deuil did mans Eare allure
To heare the Syren Sins first Straines consent,
Which drue him on to Death, which vve endure.
And vvhat but Wo-men cause our Sonnetting.
Wherein we show vvhat languishnes vve haue
Within our Soules for them, which often bring
Our Minds to naught, and Bodies to the Graue?
Whose Tongues drue vertue from the Tongue of Eue
(If it be Vertue vvhich to Vice doth draw)
To make vs loue, then, What they List, belieue:
For, Lou's as free from Reason, as from Law.
O VVo-men (that vvere made, but for Mens sake
To helpe, and comfort them in weale, and wo)
Why do your selues your selues their plaguers make,
And Crosse the Cause of your creation so?
Do not, o do not so degenerate:
From what ye should be, by creation:
You giue vs life, and life abbreuiate:
So make and mar our Generation:
But if you wil be like your Mother Eue.
When you haue vs vndone, helpe vs to liue.

In iudicando criminosa est celeritas.

To cut off life by Law of such whose Crimes
Fall out as euill, from an hopefull good
May proue, though iust, iniurious to the Times
Wherein they liue, in deed, or likelihood:
For, Iustice though she equall be to all
Yet, by aduice of Prudence she doth spare
Hopefull Delinquents though they fowly fall
Only because they oft most hopefull are:
For had Miltiades at first bin slaine
When he in Chersonesus tyranizd,
Where had the Battaile bin got on the Plaine
Of Marrathon, that's so immortalizd?
Or els had Cimon, or Themistocles
Bin done to death for their lasciuious life
(For vvhich proscribd was Alcibiades)
How had the Athenians conquest been so rise?
The Battailes neere the flood Eurimedon
Had not bin gaind to their past, gaineful good;
Nor from the Mountaine Artemision
Had they sent streaming downe their Foe-mens Bloud:
For, royall Mynds, greate Harts, and actiue Hands
(With nimble Wit among) can nought effect
But what with wonder (if not glory) stands,
Sith meane Attempts they do (as base) reiect.
Nor can their Natures motion idle be
That is so restlesse quick, and violent,
(Still working like a Billow of the Sea)
Til it bee staid in some moode premanent.
But as vnskilfull Husbandmen reiect,
The fattest Grounds sith they beare Weeds, or worse:
When expert'st Husbands those in chiefe ellect
Sith well they wott, fatt Grounds make fatt their Purse.
So do, at first, greate Witts, and haughtie Sprights
Produce strange fruits that feede but leane Decay
Which wee detesting weene they had their rights
To bee cut off, and ridd out of the way:
Which doth proceede from iudgment most deprau'd,
Though in desire that Iustice might take place,
Sith if those Men had bin in mercie saud
They for that mercie might their Countrie grace:
For when with Iudgments best-discerning Eye
Wee see good matter in an euill Man,
As Courage, VVitt, and great actiuitie
Wee long must hope, he will do wel, that can:
For, Age with Vertue is Cooperatiue.
Youths prone to Vice, sith Vice doth cocker it:
So they, in time, great matters may achiue
That may their King, and Kingdome benefit:
Then each wise Iudges iudgment hath this scope
To spare the hopelesse Felon full of hope.

Fortuna vitrea est, quæ cum splendet, frangitur. Publi.

O greatnesse what great Good dost thou containe,
T'allure the VVill to bee in loue with thee?
Ist souraigne-Good to bee a Soueraigne
VVhen high'st degree of Ills threats that Degree?
VVho buyes a Crowne with neuer-ending Care
Buyes Gold too deere by al that Life is worth:
For, Care doth nought but Life to Death prepare,
Yet, vnprepard to meet Death flieth foorth:
For, Kingdoms Cares so many are, and great,
That they constraine the Thought but them to mind;
That though vntimely Death they do beget,
Yet Thought [though free] from thought thereof they bind!
Then, ô my Soule, poore Soule! ritch in Conceit,
(Which dost conceiue Kings glittering misery
To be (as tis) false pomp, true perils Baite)
Suffice thee still with meere Sufficiency.
Make me aswell content to be the least
As others are well pleasd the Greatst to be;
Sith Man in honor liues, and dies a Beast:
For, Men proue oft base Beasts in high degree.
Let mine ambition reach but to Content,
And that Content reach but the Mean to touch:
Thats All; sith its omni-sufficient
More meet for richest Mynds then more then Much
There may I sitt by Vertues surest side,
(For in the Meane shee doth hir selfe install)
Secure from wrack, while those that Scepters guide
Do find no meane betweene their Rise, and Fall,
VVhere I may, all vnseene, see all the rest
Of this Worlds Reuolutions; and make vse
Of Best, and VVorst discreetly for my best
And store my Mind with Matter for my Muse:
Like a Spectator that doth sitt at ease
Secure vpon the Shore, and thence doth see,
How others are neere sincking on the Seas
In ceaslesse Stormes that full of danger bee:
Or like a looker on a Tragedie
VVithin the Middle Roome, among the Meane,
I see the fall of State and Maiesty
VVhile mongst the Presse t'a Piller sure I leane:)
So see I others sorrowes with delight
Though others sorrowes do but make me sadd:
But plagues to see, which on our selues might light,
Free from their fall, makes Nature, grieuing, gladd.
VVhere while I see some Phaeton striue to guide
The Sunne of Souraigntie, I see him set
All, in Combustion; so dissolues, through pride,
All Mouers causing his Ambitions heate.
Where I may see but late-Court-Minions
Liue like to Spunge [hard squizd] aliue, and dead
Through change of Kings, or Kings opinions:
For, when their Heads fall off! off falls their Head.
Or if they find more grace in Fortunes Frownes
To liue (as in an Hell) a Liuing Death
They well may Chronicle what holds in Crownes
Which turne about (like Fanes) eun with a Breath.
There may I Nobles see vnnobly striue
Who shall be greatst in grace, for want of grace,
Who by the damage of each other thriue
And grace themselues b'each others great disgrace.
While (vnperceaud) I laugh to see how thay
(Like Fiends) each other restlestly torment,
And, blesse my state that on their Plagues may play
In my Minds mirry Kingdome of CONTENT.
In few, there may I see how all Estates
That lifted are aboue the myrry Meane
Do, falling stand twixt Dangers and Debates,
Whiles of their Falls I make a swelling Sceane.
So that this World, the Sea of misery,
Becomes my Helicon, and Streames affords,
To make my Muse to flow, stil swelling hie,
In matter far aboue the reache of Words.
Then, you that, shouldring, buckle for the best
Holding the Meane [the best of all] the worst]
Rest you, or else my Muse shall neuer rest
To make your States, and Strifs lothd as accurst.
And you, ô you vnpassiond peacefull Harts
That with me liue secure in meane estate,
Be ioyfull though you play but simple Parts
Ye simply play the best, blithst, freest from hate.
And though these great Ones scorne our Case, and Cote,
Let vs laugh at them sith we know they dote.

A Dump vpon the death of the most noble Henrie late Earle of Pembrooke.

Death, hath depriud me of my deerest friend;
My Deerest friend is dead, and laid in Graue:
In Graue He rests vntill the World shall end:
The World shall end, and end shall all Things haue:
All Things haue end, on Earth, that Nature wrought;
That Nature wrought shall vnto Dust be brought:
To Dust be brought the worthiest Wights on Ground:
On Ground who liues, in Ground consume he must:
Consume he must whom Sorrow doth confound:
Sorrow doth confound the Mind that Care doth rust:
That Care doth rust, full soone Care will deuour:
Care will deuour where Care hath greatest powr:
Where Care hath greatest powr it frets the Heart:
It frets the Heart, and doth perplex the Spirit:
The Spirit perplext procures the Bodies smart:
The Bodies smart doth quite expell delight:
Expell delight, then Life is like to Death:
To Death I yeeld, yet cannot lose my Breath:
My Breath, why did it not forsake me than:
Me than, eun then, when that my friend deceast:
My friend deceast, eun as my Ioyes began:
My Ioyes began, eun as my Ioyes surceast:
My Ioyes surceast eun as my friend did dy.
My friend did die, and so would God might I.

I said vnto Laughter, what art thou mad? And to Mirth what dost thou? Eccles. 2. 2.

Among the Baites Sinne laies for heedles Flesh
(Though Lust be more attractiue in her powr]
None takes so soone [sith It doth it refresh]
As Myrth; For, Myrth doth ioy, and health procure.
The Graue, and Light wil, lightly, mirry bee
Mirth so doth tickle Spleenes of either kinde
For recreation, one; the other, glee:
And both, because the rein they pleasure finde.
It is Earths Heauen, yet It doth hale to Hell:
But so doth hale, as, with bewitching Arte
It makes them willing whome it doth compel
To ioy in Pleasure: which procureth Smart.
When Fortune smiles who then laughs not outright?
And oft (mad mirry] plaies not with each straw?
Makes Pleasure, all their paine; their care, Delight?
These, Mirth, with Ropes of Vanity, doth draw.
These, in the Night, think how to spend the Day
[If thinking-sad Ambition let them not]
In pas-time, so, Time passeth with ill play
Til they lose All, and He the same hath got.
In Weale, we flote on Pleasures Streams, with ease,
In sugred satisfaction of our Sense:
And often seeke to sound those sensual Seas
With the decep'st reach of our Intelligence.
Then wee embozom all that Myrth can yeeld:
Musutions, Plaiers: Buffons, Birds and Beasts
Do, at their pleasure, vs (most wanton) weeld:
And, deerer then our Wisedomes deeme their Iests.
A Zane (farther off from Wit, then Grace
(And yet as farre from Grace, as Grace, from Synne)
That can at Feasts, prate with a brazen face)
(When sober Witt's kept out) must needs come in.
Our Dainties will not downe with out some such,
A Shamelesse-gracelesse, wittlesse Thing wee gett
To make vs Fatt, as fooles, with Laughing much
And on his follie feede, to make vs eate.
My Lady shee will laugh as madd shee were
(Lord! why should Mirth make sober Ladies madd?)
If shee but see Him, like an Asse, to fleere;
So shee (kind Mule) to see an Asse is gladd.
And when such Buffons ball, and Cornetts sound
(The Ghests loud-Laughing) Who can then bee heard
That speakes like Phillpps Page, as shrill, as sound,
That Voice hath then no grace and lesse regard?
And, if one sober Soule, amonge the rest,
Do mind the rest of their Excesse, in This
Some seeming wise man makes him straight a Iest,
While all, as at a Goose, like Geese do hisse.
Then one Goose (that seemes reason most t'affect)
Yeelds him a reason for their hissing so:
And saith that Wisedome doth hir selfe reiect,
When shee comes out of season ought to do.
This Diu'l with reason, dammnes Diuinity;
And, with his Wisedome, stopps selfe Wisedomes Mouth:
Which saith, all Seasons wee should mortifie
Our Eares, to heare the liuely Word of TRVTH!
Paule, hold thy peace; thou blessed Saint be still:
(Though if thou preach not, thou saist, wo to Thee)
Lest they do hisse thee too, for thy good will;
Who hold all Geese that not madd-mirry bee.
Tell them they ought in season, and without
To heare the Word of Life: they, dead in sinne,
Will, for thy zeale, requite thee with a floute;
For so to quite such zeale they vs'd haue bin
The most voluptuous ouer-wanton Rigge
Proud Plentie, scornes meeke Pieties VVoman-hood:
And, swelling Supra-aboundance lookes so bigg
That nought it sees so Low as Sober-moode.
Variety of Crownes, Robes, Mirth, and Meate
And all that rauish, Sense, with sweet'st delight
These are the Heau'ns desired of the GREATE
VVho weene no Heau'n nor Hell is out of sight.
Frolicke great, great Ones, while these Heauns you hold
Sith you will not attend true VVisedoms VVords,
Laugh and bee fatt, sith al you touch is Gold,
Though that foode your Soules famishment affordes.
Soule? tush, what Soule? how idly dost thou chatt,
Madd Muse, that now [they thinke] dost Poetize:
There is no Soule, nor no such Thing as that;
These are but Fictions, Law-confirming Lies,
VVhat resurrection? Pish, who euer came
From Death, to Life? VVho can Cadaueres raise?
Some say a Nazarite once did the same,
But Tacitus nor Machiauel so saies.
These were wise Men, in deede, and known for such,
If such had said it, we might trust their VVorde:
But, sow'r poore Fellowes poorely it doth touch,
That often with themselues do scarse accord.
VVho had no action in the Common-weale
No Office, no Command, nor no great Braine,
Yet wee [for sooth] for vaine Soules only Heale
Must credit them in all their prattle vaine.
These are the damnd discourses of these Diuells;
Thus, their blasphemous Tongues deride the Truth;
Whose greatest gooddesse is in greatest Euills:
And growing Greate, through Mischiefe, haue their growth.
Great Witt should haue great Grace the same to guide;
Or Witts owne greatnesse will it selfe oppresse,
Or make it runne to rage, it selfe beside;
And sinck the Owner in the deep'st distresse.
If Witt, and Wealth concurre, to Hell they runne,
If Grace, in mightie measure, stay them not:
Who are vndone, if they be not vndone
Before they do receiue their later Lott:
For, Frolick Fate is most vnfortunate
If sanctified Discretion hold not in
Vnruly Nature, then, in sober gate:
For, from Aboundance, springs aboundant Sinne.
In Wealthes excesse to be most continent
Is most miraculous, and seldome seene:
For, Appetite is then most violent,
And Passion, with high-hand, growes Reasons Queene.
Then Pleasur's Actiue, and most Passiue, Sense:
Madd-Mirhes rude-hand the Soule a sunder teares:
Which is distracted by Ioyes violence,
Aswell as by Griefes Gripes, or sodaine Feares.
If hee that doth the happiest State possesse
Looke well within him, and without him too
Hee lightly shall see cause of heauynesse,
Seeing All to threaten him quite to vndoo.
But hardly shall hee sinde a cause of myrth
(Though hee sought all the World the same to finde)
Sith Sorrow only is our tight of Birth,
With Laboure of our Body, Soule, and Mind.
O Myrth (strong Strumpett!) Whore to Worldly-Weale,
O Laughter (Light Thing!) Baude to both those Beasts,
Why do you not your Luxury conceale
But that bewray which Modestie detests?
It is because yee are madd; as are those
That willinglie still rest at your dispose.

Omnium rerum vicissitudo est. Terence.

As I me sate vpon a Riuer side
And markt the Water how it past away,
And how that past, with like, was straight supplide,
That still is past, and still held at a stay,
Mee thought t'was like this

the

Sea of Sorrowes Tide,
Wherein the Race of Man-kinde runneth so:
For, downe the Streame of Days, to Death we glide,
And still Some come, as fast as Others go.
And as the Streame with many Reaches runnes:
So runnes our Course, with many way-ward Reaches:
This, Ill it runnes to, and that Good it shunnes;
And, to runne out of Course, makes many Breaches.
Then, with my selfe I thus discourst, at last,
I, with the rest, am running downe this Streame:
Here now, there then, then, presently am past,
Like Streames swift Course, if not much more extreame:
For, ah, I cannot think how swift I flee
But I flee swifter then that Thought, to Death:
For, Times least Partes, then Thoughts much breefer bee,
Which Thought, with thought, my short time shorteneth!
I am orewheldm'd in Thoughts, as deepe as Hell
And high as Heau'n; when thus my state I waigh:
And twixt those Thoughts I (as intraunc't) do dwell,
While Time drawes mee to Death the neerest way:
For, Thought breedes Melancholie, which doth breede
The Enemies of Health; and, they do sow
(In Fleshes Earth) our Dissolutions Seede,
That vs dissolues when it begins to grow.
If from my selfe I do my selfe diuide
(The longer, so, to keepe my selfe intire)
And giue my Sense delight, my Thoughts to guide
To Mirth, abroade for health: they straite retire:
And, sooner can long married Men forgett
They married are, then I forgett the Thought
To which I owe my selfe, as duest Debt,
Since I was matcht to Ill and knew it Nought:
For, if I lett my easi-moouing Minde
(With lightest shock turne from his weightie Point)
It rests no where, but in this Point, by Kinde;
So, Lightest Purposes doth disappoint.
The Elements, though still at Warre in mee,
Do yet, in firme accord, mine ende conspire:
For, It they hasten, sith they disagree;
Which well agrees to make me vnintire.
Then, ô why should I add sadd care, to Care
When one's of pow'r, the Pow'res of Life, to foile?
Why should I care to spend, and care to spare,
To spare a Life which sparing doth but spoile?
Why should I care to liue, sith die I should
If I would liue quite free from Thought, and Care?
For, Thought's the Deede by which this life we hold,
Which yet determines Life, ere Thought beware,
Suppose with cark, past Care, I could obtaine
A golden Crowne (but better t'wrere of Baies)
And with Hell-paines a tripple One attaine,
What gott I but more Care to ende my Days?
And were Time staid, and Life most stedfast too
Such endlesse Kings, had gott but endlesse Cares:
And so the longer Life, the more adoo:
The more adoo, the Dooer worser fares.
While thus my Thoughts are temp'ring, lo, with Time,
Time hath stoll'n on mee, to steale mee away:
Awaie, with Time, I go: hark, hark, the Chime
Saith Musicks charming Notes Time cannot stay:
And, if not Musick, no Mirth vnder Sunne
Hath pow'r to stay Him; but, Mirth Pas-time is:
By It, the sooner, Time away doth runne:
Then, Life is wretched both in Bale, and Blisse!
If it be wretched, lothsome is it then;
If so, then so wee are, to loue it so:
Men-Beasts wee bee, that reason want of Men,
To Loue our Prison, perill, paine, and wo.
Thus while, with healthfull breath, I breathe out This
I can contempne this Life, and those condemne
That are in Loue with it, as with their blisse,
But, were Death neere, I might be one of Them.
Yet, let me not my dying Heart bely
(Which dyeth as it liues, in thought of Death)
It nought (but Heau'n) desires more then to dy;
And, yeeld, to endlest rest,, my weary breath.
Weery, I well may tearme it, that still toiles,
To keepe a toilesome Life from endlesse rest:
So, wrongeth Life the more, the more it moiles:
Which is at worst, when it is at the best!
O Breath, fraile Breath! (base-Daughter of the Aire)
Flie to thy Mother, me no longer griue:
Nor, would I dy, because I do dispaire
But dy, because I hope, in rest, to liue.
Here is but Toile, and thou holdst mee to It;
Which I abide, sith Thou abidst in mee:
So, but losse wynn I, by thy benefitt,
The losse of Rest, that restlesse am through thee:
Yet, till thy Giuer take thee, make no hast:
For, I was borne to toile, for rest, at last.

Difficilia quæ pulchra.

The Coæternall, consubstanciall WORD,
Self-WISDOMS wisedome, Image of the HIGHST,
Sole KING of Kings, of Lordes the onely LORD
And, heaunly HEAD of CHRISTIANS, IESVS CHRIST,
In compleate Time, tooke FLESH, by MIRACLE,
Of a pure VIRGIN, through HIS Work that was
The Prompter of each sacred ORACLE,
That did fore-show how THIS should come to passe:
VVith his vnualued Wonder-working BLOVD,
To manumise vile Man, a Slaue to Sin,
Was borne in Beth'lem without, Liuelihood;
And, without all that State doth glory in.
His THRONE, a Manger, and, a Crach; his Cradle:
His ROBES, course Ragges, poore Reliques of meane Lynnen.
His WAITERS Beasts, his COVRT, a stinking Stable:
That worse no Begger euer borne had been in:
Where, yet, foorth-with, by Angels glorifiyng,
Sheepherds agnition, worship of the WISE,
The guiding STARRE Old Symeons Prophecying,
And Doctors wondring, ALL, HIM GREAT Agnize,
Who, in his youth, grew quickly old in grace
With GOD, and Man; for GOD, and Man was HEE:
Baptis'd by him which made and gaue Him place,
That HEE to all might Pieties Patterne bee:
Conquering his FLESH with fasting, unconstrain'd,
The World with meeknesse, and the Fiend, with Prai'r:
And when the WEEKS of DANIELL end attaind
Hee taught and sought RIGHTS Ruines to repaire:
Sometimes, with Words, that wonder-mazed men,
Sometimes, with Deedes, that Angels did admire:
With mercy, still, with Iustice, seldome when)
He made (as HEE was) God and man entire.
He tought EARTH, Truth: and HELL, to know her error:
He showed the MEEDE ordain'd for Good, and Bad:
Then to confirme All [to Alls ioy, and terror)
Hee calm'd the Elements: reform'd the madd:
Heald all Diseases: brought, to life the Dead:
The quickt' obedience: secret thoughts, to light;
To Sinnes restraint, or to be banished,
And lastly to the Deuil, feare and flight!
These [Notwithstanding) and much more then these,
(For, all the World the Books would not comprise
That of his Acts should hold the working-Seas,
Which to a boundlesse Magnitude do rise!
Hee was, (alas, when he had vnder-gon
All Paines and Passions (Sin all onely saud)
Proper to Man [yet had his God-head showne)
By his owne People scorned: and depraud!
Yea, by his owne (his owne chiefe Officer
Iudas, betraying Him) He was accusd,
Arraignd, condemnd, bound, scurgd, hald here, and there,
With Thorns, Crownd, crucified, and worse abusd!
So He, (All being fulfild: the Sun obsurd,
The Earth, all, quaking, Graues self-opening,
And, NATVRES Frame dissoluing] Death, endurd:
Life, thereby, to his Enemies, to bring!
Then, being interd, loost Hell: and, rose againe
In triumph, hauing conquerd Death, and Sin:
And forty Daies, (with HIS) on Earth did raigne
A Man-GOD glorifid, without, and in!
And, of his age, the three and thirtith Yeare,
He, in the sight of his Saints, did assend
To Heaun, with glory, triumph, ioy and cheere,
And sits on his right Hand that Him did send!
From whence [being now our Spokes-man] He shal come
(When all this All shall melt in funerall fire)
On Quick, and Dead to giue his finall Doom:
When, as their Works shalbe, shalbe their Hire.
Then, Good, and Bad diuided, endlesly,
The Worle refind, and all things put in frame,
To this greate Iudge, the totall EMPERY
Shalbee giu'n vp, of this Great-double FRAME!
To whome Celestiall, and Terrestriall Knees,
And Knees infernall, shall for euer bow:
And, eu'ry Tongue confesse, and Eye that sees,
That HEE is All, in All, in High, and Low,
Vnto His glory that VVas, Is, and shall
(In all Æternity) bee ALL, in All!

I long for Life, vnlike to Death.

So runnes the Tenor of the Treble Ills
Existing by the Meane of three fel Foes,
The Flesh, the World the Deuill euer spills
Vs miserable miserable Men with mortal Bloes,
Yet, like Fiends, taking pleasure but in paine,
[In paine that to noe perfect profit tends]
We seeke to rule, and if we can to raigne;
And rule, and raigne but for vnruly Ends,
O Rest [the Image of that Saboth sweete
Wherein sweete Saints do from their Labours rest!
O riche repose of Spirit, for Angells meete!]
How do I toile to bee of Thee possest?
Then Slouth it is not that delights my VVill,
Nor, would mine Vnderstanding idle bee;
But, both desire to bee in Action still,
Yet rest in action like the Trinitie!
The Date of my lifes Lease is neere expird,
Yet labour I for life, sith still I swimme
In Sorrowes Seas, as one as neerely tride
As hee is neere the Bottome, or the Brym.
I scarse can keepe me Head aboue the VVaues
VVith all my Laboures my Starres are so crosse!
Yea, vnder VVater oft my Science saues
From Death, my Life, which Stormes of Troubles tosse.
But as the Deluge, swelling more, and more,
Made th'Arke thereby to Heau'n-warde mount a pace:
So, when Afflictions VVaues increase their Store
They lift me vp thereby the more to Grace.
Yet, as they multiplie, their struggle so
That they turmoile my Bodie, toyle my Mynd:
For, both in anguishe flote when Sorrowes flo;
And, sorrowes flow from Fortunes Ebbe, by kind,
So, that I cannot yet that Rest attaine
Which my poore Soule, and Spirit so requires;
I, longing, labour for it, yet in vaine:
For, base Defect withstands my high Desires.
And by how much the more for it I longe
So much the more I do Worlds weale neglect;
Wherein my selfe and my Desires I wrong:
That are the more supprest by that Defect.
I was not moulded, sure in earthlie Mould,
(Though of the Filth thereof my Fleshe was fram'd)
For, if I were, then sure it fitt mee should;
But, nothing lesse, whereof I am asham'd.
I see some Men (who when wee weigh their Witt,
Wee, as miraculous, their wealth admire]
To this Worlds Mould do make them selues as fitt
As if their VVitt, and Mettall were all Fire!
Yea some meere Blocks, that are as blunt, as base,
Rise from still lying but in Dutt, and Dung,
To high estate [which standeth with therir Case]
Though Fate, through too much right, them too much wrong!
Yet I [whose Braines are plac'd in better Cells
And haue the influence of clearer light)
Can compas nothing by Wits magick-Spells
[These charming Numbers] but mine ovvne delight.
I stoln am from my self, by nine svveet Queenes
[Who do predominate my Witt, and Will)
While Time steals from me both my Life, and Meanes;
And leaues mee nought to liue with, but my Skill.
Yet from Times Wings I steale his blackest Plumes
(The Night) to rest in motion of my Muse;
And til my Witt by Health of Time consumes,
In spight of VVant, this wealth of VVitt Ile vse.
And with Aurora [raiser of the Muse]
Ile wake if Rests friend [Sleepe] should rest mine Eyes:
To steale from Time, what I may iustlie vse,
So to supplie Times want with's owne Supplies!
And for the Stuffe whereof Ile draw my Lines
It shall bee such as from his Throne shall come,
VVhose Muse-immortalizing Spirit them twines,
And (Silke worme like) Ile worke me in my Tombe.
VVhere, though I, poore VVorme, from my Labours rest
My VVorks well wou'n by some more dextrous VVitt
May line perhapps the Note-bookes of the best;
Yea, for Apparrell of the Mind be fitt.
And though the Viperous Iron Teeth of Time
May gnaw away, to wrack, through my VVorks VVombe,
Yet if my Spirit, thereby aboue Him climbe
Lett my Lines ruynd bee, to giue Him Roome:
For, though content, I could bee, dead, to liue
In Fames strongst Fort (though Paper be the VVall,
And Sense of Fame my life cannot suruiue)
Yet if I rise thereby lett my Fame fall:
For, what feeles Naso that a VVorke compos'd
That liues, and shall, till Time bee Toothlesse quite,
Sith hees disposd, where now hee's indisposd
To feele a VVinde that is so vaine, and light?
Yet heers the VVinde that beares the VVorld away
Though it bee weaker then the lightest Mynd:
Then, weake is That so weake a Winde doth swaie;
And die they ought that liue but for such Winde.
But, Vertue for hir selfe (and not for Fame
That as an Hand-maide hir attendeth still)
I chiefly do desire, and let my name
Die in hir life, so shee may make my Will,
And, with hir leaue, to giue (and make no waste)
My Time to draw Diuine Lines to the last.

An Ode in commendation of Musick.

O Sacred Musick, Nurse of Raptures highe,
Which feedst the Soule with diuine Symphony,
What Words can prayse Thee?
Whose Vertue tunes the discord of the Spheares,
And ties therto Diuine: and Humane Eares;
Then can Winde raise Thee?
Whose sweetest Aires do breathe foorth Wonders Winde,
Which mounts, aboue it selfe, the heauiest Minde
In spight of Nature:
Whose holie Accents are so full of force
As can the Soule from Body quite deuorce
Of sullenst Creature!
VVhat is so dull of Sprite that hath but life
That loues thee not? Or who so full of strife
To hate thy Concords?
Sith thou art Shee, who, with Soule-pleasing Straines,
All peruerse Passions of the Mind constraines
To cease their Discords!
Our Soules (whome some suppos'd but Musicke were,
Because they moned are as It doth steere)
Do glorifie Thee!
The sacred Quires that ring about the Throne
Of that more sacred ESSENCE, Three, in One,
Do sanctifie Thee!
That Holy, Holy, Holy which They crie
That are Sub-chaunters of Heau'ns Hermony
Records, thy glory;
VVhat shall I say? both Heau'n, and Earth conspires
To raise the same past reach of what aspires
If transitorie!
And, in a VVorde, if I might censure Thee
That, next my Neerest, art beloud of mee)
Thou art that Pleasure,
VVho, in thy sweetest Notes, (as well I note)
Hast [like that Blisse that by sweete Concord's got]
Nor Meane, nor Measure!

Nihil tam bene dictum, quod non fuit dictum prius.

Were all the VVits that mortall Braines immure
(By supposition, or in Deed) made one,
Yea though they vvere most subtile made, and pure,
By al the Helpes that Wit can think vpon,
They could not [though they did themselues distract
VVith strayning hard] a new Inuention frame:
For, each new Deed doth turne into some Act
[In some yeares compasse] past, before the same,
Our Actions, and Inuentions are fast fixt.
Vnto the Spheare of Vniformity:
Though oft the same, with Diffrences, be mixt,
Yet they, with Like, past, hold conformity:
For, as the heaunly Orbs, in vvheeling, cause
The Stars to meet in oft coniunction,
For, from the like, the like Time often drawes
That rightest vvere in opposition:
So, do our Words, and Deeds, vvith Turnes of Time,
Turn in't themselues: then, out, then in againe;
And, as a VVheele doth roundly fall, and climb:
So, Fashions, out of vse, come in amaine.
VVe cannot think of that hath not bin thought:
For, our more studious Ancients straind their Braines
Beyond ours reache, though vve in vaine, haue sought
To straine our VVits beyond their VVisedoms Straines.
To instance vvould but breed satiety;
But, breefly, Lett vs cite some fevv, For All:
VVho hath past Plato, in Philosophy?
VVho Homer for the Arte Poeticall?
In Oratory Craft, who hath out-stript
The Facher of the Romaine-eloquence!
Whose Tongue, and Pen were so in Hony dipt
That now we lick him, to make sweet our Sense.
Then, for the Mathematicks, who compares
With Archimedes (Wonder of all Times.)
And who, for Musick, with Amphion dares
Play for the Prize, whose fame past Wonder climbs!
What Painter will not blush a Line to draw
With Zeuxis; whose bright name, bright Fame doth dim?
What Imager would not seem rude, and raw
Before Pigmalion, if he wrought with him?
By this small Touch, we well may tast the Whole
Huge Body-politick of Arts-men past:
Which is a like through-out; which Bodies Soule
Holds all that All are learning, to the last.
We may suppose w'haue lighted on a Vaine
Without this Body, when out Muse doth flo
In some Inuention, past the modern Straine;
But, Self-conceit makes vs imagin so:
For, read All extant, and if some, or all
Of thy Conceit were not comprizd in some
Thou art a Spirit, and no Man Naturall
Who speaks as he is taught, or els is dumbe.
This, idle-painfull-foolish-witty Worke
Pardon mee Patience to call it so]
I may conceaue in no Conceit did lurk
Before, from mine, it (thus made run) did flo:
But, God doth know on whose Vaine I haue lighted,
I know not, sith, I know, I know non such:
Yet, for inditing, I may be indited
For taking That which I ought not to touch.
If so I haue, it vvas through ignorance
Of vvhat right Others had, to what I haue;
And if Theirs be my Wits poore maintainance
Proue it; and I am theirs, to spill, or saue.
But, some there are that take most greedily
From the old Store, sith they know Nought is new:
If then they vvrite both vvel, and speedily
They but engrosse the Deeds that others drew.
Yet, sooth to say, howeuer some may vaunt
They scorne to steale, yet They, yea, and their Heires
Take [by their leaues] and yet the World inchant
VVith coniuring VVords, to think it only Theirs!
Old Pictures well refresht, do seem as new:
And none but Artists know them to be old:
Then, they earne praise, as those that first them drew,
VVho make them, newly, their old beauty hold.
Thers nothing new: no, not so much as Sin:
For, what sin now is done, but hath bin done
VVhen the VVorlds Face was vvasht for soile therein
VVhich from most fowle, to Filthier far did run.
And though the VVorld doth vvax stil worse and vvorse,
Its since that Deluge, vvhich then scowrd hir Scums:
And so it must grow vvorse and vvorse, perforce,
Vntil hir second, and last clensing comes,
Which, being by Fires (as erst vveake VVaters) Mean,
It, euer after, shalbe nevv, and cleane!

Inough's as good as a feast.

Wee Bowes vnbend and flack the Viols Strings?
That vsed so, wee them may longer vse:
Then, if our Muse be euer on her VVings
She wil the lesser while flye like our Muse.
The body by repletion, compotent,
And by Euacuation, fit for it
Successiuely, doth Nature most Content:
So, must we vse the Minde, the Muse, the Wit:
Then, here, an end of that which we began
On no Foundation that had any ende
But such as makes our Muse an Artizan,
That can, in euery Kinde her self transcend:
But, ô, light Rimes, bee darke to all but those
That can your Rime, and Reason wel dispose.