Comedies, Tragi-comedies, With other Poems by Mr William Cartwright ... The Ayres and Songs set by Mr Henry Lawes |
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To the Cancellour of the Vniversity of Oxford,
then newly chosen. 1641.
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 | Comedies, Tragi-comedies, With other Poems |  |
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To the Cancellour of the Vniversity of Oxford, then newly chosen. 1641.
VVhen Studies now are blasted, and the Times
Place us in false Lights, and see Acts, as Crimes:
When to heap Knowledge, is but thought to fill
The Mind with more advantage to do ill;
When all your Honour'd Brother's Choice and store
Of Learn'd Remains, with Sweat and Charge fetch'd o'r,
Are thought but useless pieces; and some trust
To see our Schooles mingled with Alby-dust:
That now you dare receive us, and profess
Your Self our Patron; makes you come no less
Then a New Founder; whiles we all alow,
What was Defence before, is Building now.
Place us in false Lights, and see Acts, as Crimes:
When to heap Knowledge, is but thought to fill
The Mind with more advantage to do ill;
When all your Honour'd Brother's Choice and store
Of Learn'd Remains, with Sweat and Charge fetch'd o'r,
Are thought but useless pieces; and some trust
To see our Schooles mingled with Alby-dust:
That now you dare receive us, and profess
Your Self our Patron; makes you come no less
Then a New Founder; whiles we all alow,
What was Defence before, is Building now.
And this you were reserv'd for, set apart
For times of Hazard, as the Shield and Dart
Laid up in store to be extracted thence,
When serious Need shall ask some tri'd defence.
And who more fit to Manage the Gowns Cause,
Then you whose even Life may dare the Laws?
And the Law-makers too? in whom the Great
Is twisted with the Good, as Light with Heat?
What though your sadder Cares do not profess,
To find the Circles squaring, or to guess
How many Sands within a Grain or two
Will fill the World? These Speculations do
Steal Man from Man, you're He, that can suggest
True Rules, and fashion Manners to the Best:
You can preserve Our Charters, from the Wrong
Of th'untaught Town, as far as now the Tongue
Doth from their Understanding; you can give
Freedome to Men, and make that freedome live,
And divest Hate, now, from the Hated Arts;
These are your great Endowments, These your Parts,
And 'tis our honest boast, when this we scan,
We give a Title, but receive a Man.
For times of Hazard, as the Shield and Dart
Laid up in store to be extracted thence,
When serious Need shall ask some tri'd defence.
And who more fit to Manage the Gowns Cause,
Then you whose even Life may dare the Laws?
And the Law-makers too? in whom the Great
Is twisted with the Good, as Light with Heat?
What though your sadder Cares do not profess,
To find the Circles squaring, or to guess
How many Sands within a Grain or two
Will fill the World? These Speculations do
Steal Man from Man, you're He, that can suggest
True Rules, and fashion Manners to the Best:
You can preserve Our Charters, from the Wrong
Of th'untaught Town, as far as now the Tongue
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Freedome to Men, and make that freedome live,
And divest Hate, now, from the Hated Arts;
These are your great Endowments, These your Parts,
And 'tis our honest boast, when this we scan,
We give a Title, but receive a Man.
| Comedies, Tragi-comedies, With other Poems | |