Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects Occasionally Composed By An Eminent Author. Collected and Published by Sergeant-Major P. F. [i.e. James Howell] |
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Touching the Vertu and Use Of Familiar Letters.
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 | Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects |  |
Touching the Vertu and Use Of Familiar Letters.
Love
is the life of Friendship; Letters are
The life of Love, the Load-stones that by rare
Attraction make souls meet, and melt, and mix,
As when by Fire exalted Gold we fix.
The life of Love, the Load-stones that by rare
Attraction make souls meet, and melt, and mix,
As when by Fire exalted Gold we fix.
They are those wing'd Postillions that can fly
From the Antartic to the Artic Sky:
The Heralds and swift Harbengers that move
From East to West on Embassies of Love.
They can the Trepiks cut, and cross the Line,
And swim from Ganges to the Rhone or Rhine:
From Thames to Tagus; thence to Tyber run,
And terminat their journey with the Sun.
From the Antartic to the Artic Sky:
The Heralds and swift Harbengers that move
From East to West on Embassies of Love.
They can the Trepiks cut, and cross the Line,
And swim from Ganges to the Rhone or Rhine:
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And terminat their journey with the Sun.
They can the Cabinets of Kings unscrue,
And hardest intricacies of State unclue.
They can the Tartar tell what the Mogor,
Or the Great Turk, doth on the Asian shore.
The Knez of them may know, what Prester John
Doth with his Camels in the torrid Zone:
Which made the Indian Inca think, They were
Spirits who in white sheets the Air did tear.
And hardest intricacies of State unclue.
They can the Tartar tell what the Mogor,
Or the Great Turk, doth on the Asian shore.
The Knez of them may know, what Prester John
Doth with his Camels in the torrid Zone:
Which made the Indian Inca think, They were
Spirits who in white sheets the Air did tear.
The lucky Goose sav'd Jove's beleagred Hill
Once by her noise, but oftner by her Quill.
It twice prevented Rome was not ore-run
By the tough Vandal, and the rough-hewn Hun
Once by her noise, but oftner by her Quill.
It twice prevented Rome was not ore-run
By the tough Vandal, and the rough-hewn Hun
Letters can Plots though moulded under ground
Disclose, and their fell Complices confound:
Witness that Fiery Pile which would have blown
Up to the Clouds, Prince, People, Peers, and Town,
Tribunals, Church and Chappel, and had dride
The Thames, though swelling in her highest pride
And parboyl'd the poor Fish, which from her Sands.
Had been toss'd up to the adjoyning Lands.
Lawyers as Vultures had soar'd up and down;
Prelates like Mag-pies in the Air had flown,
Had not the Eagles Letter brought to light
That Subterranean horrid work of Night.
Credential Letters States and Kingdomes tie,
And Monarchs knit in Ligues of Amitie;
They are those Golden Links that do enchain
Whole Nations, though discinded by the Main:
They are the Soul of Trade; They make Commerce
Expand it self throughout the Universe.
Disclose, and their fell Complices confound:
Witness that Fiery Pile which would have blown
Up to the Clouds, Prince, People, Peers, and Town,
Tribunals, Church and Chappel, and had dride
The Thames, though swelling in her highest pride
And parboyl'd the poor Fish, which from her Sands.
Had been toss'd up to the adjoyning Lands.
Lawyers as Vultures had soar'd up and down;
Prelates like Mag-pies in the Air had flown,
Had not the Eagles Letter brought to light
That Subterranean horrid work of Night.
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And Monarchs knit in Ligues of Amitie;
They are those Golden Links that do enchain
Whole Nations, though discinded by the Main:
They are the Soul of Trade; They make Commerce
Expand it self throughout the Universe.
Letters may more then History inclose,
The choicest Learning both in Verse and Prose.
They Knowledg can unto our souls display
By a more gentle and familiar way.
The highest points of State and Policy,
The most severe parts of Philosophy,
May be their subject, and their Themes enrich
As well as privat businesses, in which
Friends use to correspond, and Kindred greet,
Merchants Negotiat, the whole world meet.
The choicest Learning both in Verse and Prose.
They Knowledg can unto our souls display
By a more gentle and familiar way.
The highest points of State and Policy,
The most severe parts of Philosophy,
May be their subject, and their Themes enrich
As well as privat businesses, in which
Friends use to correspond, and Kindred greet,
Merchants Negotiat, the whole world meet.
In Seneca's rich Letters is inshrin'd
What ere the ancient Sages left behind:
Tully makes His the secret symptomes tell
Of those Distempers which proud Rome befel,
When in her highest flourish she would make
Her Tyber of the Ocean homage take.
Great Antonin the Emperour did gain
More Glory by his Letters then his Raign,
His Pen out-lasts his Pike; each Golden Line
In his Epistles doth his name inshrine.
Aurelius by his Letters did the same,
And they in chief immortallize his fame.
What ere the ancient Sages left behind:
Tully makes His the secret symptomes tell
Of those Distempers which proud Rome befel,
When in her highest flourish she would make
Her Tyber of the Ocean homage take.
Great Antonin the Emperour did gain
More Glory by his Letters then his Raign,
His Pen out-lasts his Pike; each Golden Line
In his Epistles doth his name inshrine.
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And they in chief immortallize his fame.
Words vanish soon, and vapour into Air,
While Letters on Record stand fresh and fair,
And tell our Nephews who to us were dear,
Who our choice Friends, who our Familiars were.
While Letters on Record stand fresh and fair,
And tell our Nephews who to us were dear,
Who our choice Friends, who our Familiars were.
The bashful Lover when his stammring Lips
Falter, and fear some unadvised slips,
May boldly court his Mistress with the Quill,
And his hot passions to her brest instil:
The Pen can furrow a fond Females heart,
And pierce it more then Cupids feigned Dart.
Letters a kind of Magic Vertu have,
And like strong Philtres Human Souls inslave.
Falter, and fear some unadvised slips,
May boldly court his Mistress with the Quill,
And his hot passions to her brest instil:
The Pen can furrow a fond Females heart,
And pierce it more then Cupids feigned Dart.
Letters a kind of Magic Vertu have,
And like strong Philtres Human Souls inslave.
Speech is the Index, Letters Idea's are
Of the informing Soul: they can declare,
And shew the inward man, as we behold
A face reflecting in a Chrystal mould.
They serve the Dead and Living; they become
Attorneys and Administers. In sum:
Letters like Gordian Knots do Nations tie,
Else all commerce and love 'twixt men would die.
Of the informing Soul: they can declare,
And shew the inward man, as we behold
A face reflecting in a Chrystal mould.
They serve the Dead and Living; they become
Attorneys and Administers. In sum:
Letters like Gordian Knots do Nations tie,
Else all commerce and love 'twixt men would die.
| Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects | |