University of Virginia Library

Upon Mr Cartvvright's Excellent Poems Now collected and published.

If thou wouldst read what the best Poets writ,
Strong sense, and Learning too, as well as Wit;
Brave noble Passions, character'd aright,
Cloath'd in such Language as each word bears weight;
Then read these Poems, where thou mayst behold
Later Times Product, and what was of old.
For by consent of all, Cartvvright was he
Who when the Court and University
Did with most lustre flourish, took all Eyes,
Wrote Wit for Youth, and Learning for the Wise.
His Mirth is pure and Innocent, as free
From lighter follies, as from Ribauldry:
No far-fetch'd Trifles, nor no wrested words,
Which rack the Writer first, and then affords
Small pleasure to the Reader; all that's here
Is easie, naturall, proper, and cleer:
No strutting Sentences, walking on stilts,
Nor Bumbast, which fits only Basket hilts;
Nothing but what is Learning's Standard proof,
Not a grain lighter then what doth behove.
Then these, thus qualified, may well suffice,
For Wit may quickly fall, but hardly rise:
Especially in these our drooping Dayes,
When Bullets are in more request than Bayes;
Yet Cartvvright makes amends by his cleer Wit
For all the Schismes the other Cartwright writ:
His Poems pow'r may best by this be known,
They turn me Poet, who before was none:
So (taken in a good sense) men may call
His taking Verses, Epidemicall.