Sermons (LXXX Sermons etc.); Holy Sonnets

If poisonous mlnerals, and if that tree, Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us, If lecherous goats, if serpents envious Cannot he damn'd; Alas; why should I be . SVhy should intent or reason, born in me, llake sins, e]se equa], in me, more heinous. And mercy being easy, and glorious To God, in Jais stern wrath, why threatens he.:But who ara I, that dare dispute with thee. O God, Oh! of thine only worthy blood, And my tears, make , heavenly Lethean flood, And drown it in my sins black memory, That thon remember them, some cluim as debt; I think it mercy, if thou wilt forget.

DEATH, be hot proud, though some have called theo Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so, For those, whom you think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me; From test and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure, than from thee, much more must flow, And soonest out best mcn with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and souls delivery; Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and slckness dwell. And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better, than thy stroke; vhy swell'st thou then. One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more, death thou shalt die.

XIV. SPoT in my face you Jews, and pierce my side, Buffet, and scoff, scourge, and crucify me, For I have sinn'd, and sinn'd, and only he, "Who could do no iniquity, bath died: ]3ut by my death cannot be satisfied My sins, whieh pass the Jews' impiety: They kill'd once an inglorious man, but I Crucify llim daily, being now glorified; Oh let me then his strange love still admire: Kings pardon, but he bore out punishment. And Jacob came clothed in vile harsh attire But to supplant, and with gainful intent, God clothed himself in vile man's flesh, that so He might be weak enough to surfer woe.

'$'HY are we by all creatures waited on.  Vhv do the prodigal elements supply Life and food to me, being more pure than I, Simple, and further from corruption. V'hy broolr'st thou, ignorant horse, subjection.  Vhy dost thou, bull, and boar so seelily Dissemble weakness, and by one man's stroke die, SVhose whole kind you might swallow and feed upon.

Weaker I ara, woe is me, and worse than you, 'ou bave not sinn'd, nor need be timorous, But wonder ata greater wonder, for to us Created nature doth these things subdue, But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tied, For us, his creatures, and his foes, hath died. XVI. ,V,Ar if this present were tle world's last night.  Mark in my heart, O soul, wbere tbou dost dwell, The picture of Christ crucified, and tell Whether his countenance can thee afli-ight; Tears in his eyes quench tbe amazing ligbt, Bld fills his frowns, which fi'om his piere'd head fell; Anti can tbat tongue adjudge tbee unto hell, ,Vhich pm'ay'd forgiveness for his tbe's tierce sl»iflht. 1o, no; but as in my idolatry I said to ail my prothne mistresses, Beauty, of pity, fonlness only is A sign of rigour: so I sav to thee, To wickcd si, irits are horrid shapes assign'd, This beauteous form assumes a pitus mind. XVII. B tTTER llly hcamoE, three person'd God; for you As yct but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may fise, and stand, overthrow nie, and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an nsurpt town, to allother due, Labour to adroit you; but O, to no end, Ieasoll your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captived, and proves weak or nntrue, X'et dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, But ara betrothed unto your enemy, Divorce me, untie, or break that knot agaill, Take me fo you, iml»'isou me, for I Except you entbral me, never shall be free, lor ever cl|aste, except you ravish me. XVIII. Wn,T tbou love God, as be thee . tben dlgest, llv soul, this wholeso:ne nleditation, How _od the spiriti by angels waited on In beavcn, doth lnakc his temple in thy breast, VOL. ri.  G

The Father having begot a Son most blest, And still begetting, (tbr he ne'er begun) Hath deigned to choose thee by adoption, Co-heir to his glory, and Sabbath's endless rest; And as a robbed man, which by search doth find His stolen stuff sold, must lose or buy it again: The Son of glory came down, and was slain, Us whom he had ruade, and Satan stolen, to unbind. "Twas much, that man was ruade like God before, But, that God should be ruade like man, much more.

XIX. FATHER, part of lùs double interest Unto thy kingdom, thy Son gives to me, His jointure in the knotty Trinity, He keeps and gives to me his deatll's conquest. This Lamb, whose death with lire the world hath blest, Vas from the world's beginning slain, and he Hath ruade two wills, which with the legacy Of his and thy kingdom, do thy sons invest; Yet such are these laws, that men argue yct VChether a nmn those statures can fulfil; Olle doth, but thy all-healing grace and spirit, Itevive agaill what law and letter kill; Thy lav's abridgement, and tlly last command Is ail but love; 0 let this last b'ill stand!

THou which art I Ctis nothing to be so), Thou which art still thyself, by these shalt know Part of out passage: and, st hand, or eyc By HilliardT drawn, is worth an history, By a worse painter ruade; and (without pride) "When by thy judgment they are dignifi'd, My lines are such. 'Tis the pre-eminence Of friendship only to impute excellence. England, to whom wo owe, what we be, and have, Sad that her sons did seek a foreign grave (For rate's, or fortune's drifts none can soothsay, Honour and misery have one face and way.) From out ber pregnant entrails sigh'd a wind Which at th" air's middle marble room did fiud Such strong resistance, that itself it threw I)ownward again; and so when it did vicw Hov in the port our fleet dear time did leese, Vithering like prisoners, which lie but for fees, Mildly it kist our sails, and fresh, and sweet, As to a stomach starv'd, whose insides lneet, Ment cornes, it carne; and mvole our salis, when we So joy'd, as Sarah her swelling joy'd to see. But "twas but so kind, as our countr)lnen, Vhich bring friends one day's way, and leave them then. Then like two mighty kings, whlch dwelling far Asunder, meet against a third to war, The south and west winds joined, and, as they blew, Vaves like a rowling trench belote them threw.

Sooner than you read this llne, dhl the gale, Like shot, hot feared, till felt, out saiis assail; And what at flrt was called a gust, the saine Hath now a storm's, anon a tempest's naine. Jonas, I ])ity thee, and eurse those men, lVho when the storm rafd most, di,l wake thee then; Sleep is paiu's eaiest salve, and dth flllfill All oces of death, except to l¢ill. But when ] wakt, I saw, that I saw hot. I, and the sun, which should teach me, had foot East, west, day, night, and I eould onlv say, If the world had lasted, now it had been day. Thousands our noises were, yet we "mongst all t'ould none hy ]ris right naine, hut thunder eall; Lightning was ail our li.ht, and it rain'd more Tlau if the sun had drnnk the sea befire  Some con'd in their cabins lie, equally (rievd that they are hOt dead, and ver must die. And as sin-burden'd souls from graves will cree l, At the last day, some forth their cabins peep: And trembliugly ak what news, and do hear , Like jealous huands, what they wouhl hot know. Some sltfing on the hatches, wouhi seem there Yith hideous gazhg to fear away içar. Then note they the ship's sicknesses, the ma«t Shak'd with this ague, and the hohl and waste Vith a salt dropsy cioged, and all our tacklings Snapping, like too high-stretched treble strins. And from our tottered salis, rags drop «loa so, As from one hang'd in chains, a year ago. Even our ordnance plced for our defeuce, Strive to break loose, and scape away from thence. Pmnpin hath ti:d out men, and what's the gain [ Seas into seas thrown, we suck in again; Heariug hath deaf'd our sailors; and if they Knew how to hear, there's none knows what to say. Compar'd to these storms, death is but a quahn, Hell somewhat lightsome, and the Bermuda * taire. Darkne, llght's eldest brother, his birth-right Claim'd o'er this world, and to heaven hath chas'd llght.

Ail tliings are ont, and tbat one none can be, Siaace all tbrnls, unitbrm defornlity Doth cover, so t|iat we, cxcept God say Another fiat, shall have no more day. So violent, yet long tlaese thries be, That t|aough t|iine absence starvc me, I wish ilOt thce.

To tke A2tme. OVR storm as past, and t]lat storan's tyrannous rage A stupid ca]nl, but nothilag it, doth swage. The fable as inverted, and far more A block affiicts, now, than a stol'k before. Storms chatb, an,l soon wear oaat tlacinselves, or us: In cahns, heaven lauglis fo sec us languish tliaas. As steady as I can wish that my thoughts were, Smooth as thy anistress" glass, or what sbines there, Thc sea is now. And, as tlac isles which we Scek, when wc can more, our ships rooted be. As watcr did in storms, now pitch rares oaat As lead, when  fir'd cburch becomcs one spout. And ail our beaaaty, and our triin, decays, Like courts removing, or like ended plays. Tlae fightillg place now seamcn's rags SUpl,lY; And ail tbe tackling as  frippcry. No use oflanthoras; and iii one place lay Fcathcrs and dust, to-day and yesterday. Earth's hollownesses, which the worlds lungs arc, Have no more wind than the uppcr vault of air. Ve can nor lost ticnds, aloi" sought focs recover, But nleteor-llke, save that we more hot, hover. Onlv the calellture* together draws Dear tiends, which meet dead au great fishes jaws: And on the hatches as on altars lies Each one, his own priest, and own sacrifice. Vho lave, that miracle do multiply Vhere wa]kers in hot ovens do aot die.

• Calenture, an illusion during tllns in hot cllmates, wldch makes the sea appear like fields, and the sailors fancy it to be land» and throw themselves on it.—Jouso.

If in despite of these, we swim, that bath No more refreshing, than out brimstone bath, But from the sea, into the ship we turn, Like par-boiFd wretches, on the coals fo burn. Like Bajazet encag'd, the shepherds" scoff*, Or like slack-sinewM Sampson, his hair off, Languish out ships. Now, as a lnyriad Of ants durst the emperor's lo"d snake invade, The crawling gallies, aea.gulls, finny chips, Might brave our Venices, now bed-rid ships. Vhether a rotten state, and hope of gain, Or to disuse me from the queasy pain Of being belov'd, and loving, or the thirst Of honour, or fair death, out-push'd me first, I lose my end: for here as well as I A desperate may lire, and  coward die. Stag, dog, and all which from, or towards flics, Is paid with lire, or prey, or doing diês. Fate grudges us all, and doth subtly lay A scourge, 'gainst which we all forger to pray, He that at sea prays for more wind, as well Under the poles may beg cold, heat in hcll. Vhat are we then . How little more Mas Is man now, than belote he was! he was Nothing; for us, we are for nothing fit; Chance, or ourselves still disproportion it. We have no power» no will, no sense; I lie, I slmuld not then thus feel this misery.

To »S'ir Henrff W'ootton. Sa, more than kisses, letters mingle souls; For thus friends absent speak. This ease eontrols The tediousness of my lire: but for these I could ideate nothing, which could please, But I should wither in one day, and pass To a bottle of hay, that am a lock of grass. Lire is a voyage, and in our life's ways Countries, courts, towns are rocks, or remoras;

They break or stop all ships, yet out state is such, That though than pitch they stain worse, we must touch. If in the furnace of the raging line, Or undcr the adverse icy pole thou pine, Thou know'st two temperate regions girded in, Dwcll thcre: but O! what refuge canst thou Parched in the court, and in the country frozen, Shall cities built of both extremes be choscn Can dung, and garlic be a pcrfume. or can A scorpion, or torpedo cure a man. Cities are worst of all three; of all three (O knotty riddle) each is worst equally. Cities are sepulchres; they who dwell thero Are carcases, as if no such there were. And courts are theatres, where some men play Princes, some slaves, all to one end, and of one clay. The country is a desert, where no good, Gained, as habits, nor born, is understood. There men become beats, and prone to more evils; In cities blocks, and in a lewd court, devils. As in the first chaos confusedly Each elcment's qualities were in the other thrce; So pride, lust, covetous, being several To thcse three places, yet all are in all, And luingled thus, their issue incestuous. Falsehood is denizen'd. Virtue is barbarous. Lot no lllan say there, Virtue's flinty wall Shall lock vice in nie, 131 do none, but know ail. Men are spunges, which to pour out, receive, Vho know false play, rather than lose, deceive. For in best understandings, sin began, A ngels sinncd first, then devils, and then man. Only perchance beasts sin not; wretched we Are beasts in ail, but white iutegrity. I thiuk if men, which in these places lire, Durst look in themselves, and themselves retrieve, They would like strangers greet themselves, seeing then Utopian youth, grown old Italian. Be thou thine own home, and in thyself dwell; Inn anywhere; continuance maketh hell. And seeing the snail, which everywhere doth roam, Carrying hi» own house still, still is st home,

Follow (for he is easy paced) this snail, Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail; And in the world's sea, do hOt like cork sleep Upon the water's face; nor in the deep Sink like a lead without a line: but as Fishes glide, leaving no print where they pass, Tor making sound; so, closely thy course go, Let men dispute, whether thou breath, or no: Only in this one thing, be no Galenist. To make Court's hot ambitions wholesome, do not take A drain of country's dulness; do not add Correctives, but as chymics, purge the bad. But, sir, I advise hOt you, I rather do Say o'er those lessons, which I learned of you. VChom, free from German schisms, and lightncss Of France, and fait Italy's faithlessness, Having from these sucked ail they had of worth, And brought home that faith, which you carried forth, I throughly love. But if myself, I have won To know my rules, I bave, and you bave DON'E.

To,S'ir Henry Goodyere. W],o makes the past, a pattern for next year, Turns no new leaf, but stiil the saine things reads, Seen things, he sees again, heard things doth hear, And makes his lire, but like a pair of beads. A palace, when "tis that, which it should be, Leaves growing, and stands snch, or else decays, But he which dwells there, is hOt so; for he Strives to urge upward, and his fortune raise. So had your body her morning, hath her noon, And shail hOt better; ber next change is night: But her fait larger guest, to whom sun and moon Are sparks, and short-lived, claires another right. The noble soul by age grows lustier, Her appetite, and ber digestion mend, We must hot starve, nor hope to pamper ber Vith women's milk, and pap, unto the end.

Provide you manlier diet, vou have seen Ail libraries, which are schools, camps, aud courts; But ask your garners if you have uot been In harvests, too indulgent to your sports. SVould you redeem it. then yourself transplant A while from hence. Perchance outlandish ground Bears no more wit, than ours, but yet more scant Are those diversions there, which here abound. To be a stranger bath that benefit, SVe can bcginnings, but hot habits choke. Go, whither. hence; you get, if)ou forger; New faults, till they prcscribe in us, arc smoke. Out soul, whose country is heaven, and God her father, Into this world, corruption's siuk, is sent; Yet so much in ber travel she doth gather, That she returns home, wiser than she went. If pays you well, if it teach you to si)are, And make you ashamed, to make your hawk's praise yours, V'hich when herself she lessens in the air, You then first say, that high enough she tow'rs. However, keep the lively taste you hold Of God, love him as now, but fear hiln nmre, And in your afternoons think what you told And promised him, at morning prayer belote. Let falsehood like a discord anger)'ou, Else be hot froward; but why do I touch Things, of which none is in your practice new, And tables, or fruit-trenchers teach as much. But thus I make you keep your promise, sir, Riding I had you, though you still stayed there, And in tllese thoughts, although you noyer stir, You came with me to Mitcham, and are here.

To:lit. RowlaM lVoodw«rd.

LIKE one who in her third widowhood doth profess Herself a nun, tied to retiredness, So affects my mu.e now, a chaste fallowness.

Since she to few, yet to too many bath shown How love-song weeds, and satiric thorns are grown, SVhere seeds of better arts were early sowu. Though to use, and love poetry, fo me, Betrothed to no one art, be no adultery; Omissions of good, ill, as ill dceds be. For though te us it seem, and be, light and thin, Yet in those faithful scales, where God throws in lIen's works, vanity weighs as much as siu. If out seuls haro stained their first white, yet we May clothe them with faith, and dear honesty, Which God imputes as native purity. There is no virtue, but religion, SVise, valiant, sober, just, are namcs, which none Want, xvhich want net vice-covering discretiou. Seek we then ourselves in ourselves; for as Men force the sun with much more force te pass, By gathering his beams with a crystal glass; Se we, if we into ourselves will turn, Blowing our sparks of virtue, may outburn The straw, which doth about our hearts sojourn. You know, physicians, when they would infuse Into any oil, the seuls of simples, use Places, where they may lie still warm, te choose. Se works retireduess in us; te roam Giddily and be everywhere, but at home, Such freedom doth a banishment bccome.

Ve are but termers of ourselves, yet ma)', If we can stock ourseh'es, and thrive, uplay Much, much dear treasure for the great rent-day. Manure thyself then, te thyself be approved, And with vain outward things be no more moved, But te know, that I love thee and would be lored.

I"o,S'ir ttenry lVootton.

H.R.'s no more news, than virtue; I may as well Tell you Calais', or St. Michael's tale for news*, as tell That vice doth here habituaIly dwell. Yet, as to get stomachs, we walk up and down, And toil to sweeten test, so, may God frown, If, but to loathe both, I haunt court, or town. For here no one is from the extremity Of vice, by any other reason free, But that the next to him still is worse than he. In this world's warfare, they whom rugged fate, (God's commissary,) doth so throughly hate, As in the court's squadron to marshal their state; If they stand armed with seely honesty, XVith wishing prayers, and neat inteerity, Like Indians against Spanish hosts they be. Suspicious boldness to this place belongs, And to bave as many ears as ail bave tongues; Tender to klmw, tough to acknowledge wrongs. Believe me sir, in my youth's giddiest days, XVhen to be like the court, was a play's praise, Plays were hot so like courts, as courts are like plays. Then let us at these mimic antics jest, Whose deepest projects, and egregious gestT, Are but dull morals of a gaine at chest. But now 'tis incongruity to smile, Therefore I end; and bid farewell awhile, At court, though from court, were the better style.

To the Countess of Bed.t'brd.

Rr:xsoN is out soul's left hand, faith her right, By these wo reach divinity, that's you; Their loves, who have fim blessings of your light, Grew from their reason, mine from fair faith grew. But as, although a squint left-handedness Be ungraeious, yet we cannot want that hand, So would I, hot to inerease, but to express My faith, as I believe, so understand. Therefore I study you first iri your saints, Those friends, whom your election glorifies, Then in your deeds, aecesses, and restraints, And what you read, and what yourself devise. But soon, the reasons why you are loved by all, Groxv infiuite, and so pass reason's reach, Then back again to implicit faith I fall, And rest on what the Catholie faith dotl teaeh; That you are good: and hot one heretie Denies it: if he did, yet you are so. For rocks, vhich high topped* and deep rooted stick, ,Vaves vash, hot undermine, nor overthrow. In everything there naturally grows A balsamum to keep it fresh, and new. If "twere hot injured by extrinsie blows; Your birth and beauty are this balm in)'ou. But, you of learning and religion, And virtue, and such ingredients, have ruade A mithridate, whose operation Keeps off, or cures what ean be donc or said. Yet, this is hot your physic, but your food, A diet fit for you; for you are here The first good angel, sinee the world's frame stood, That ever did in woman's shape appear.

Since you are then God's masterpiece, and so Itis factor for our loves; do as you do, Make your return home gracious; and bestow Thy llfe on that; so make one life of two. For so God help me, I would not miss you there For ail the good which you can do me here.

VIII. To the Coz«ntess of Bêdford.

¥oo have refined me; and to worthiest things, Virtue, art, beauty, foune, now I sec Rareness, or use, not nature, value brlngs  And such, as they are circumstanced, they be. Two ills cn ne'er perplex , siu to excuse; But of two goed things, we my leave and ehoose. Therefore ai court, which is not virtue's elime, Where a transcendant height, (as loxxmess me) Makes her hot be, or hot show: all my rhyme Your virtues challenge, which there rarest be; For, as dark texts need notes: there some must bo To usher virtue, and say, This is she. So in the country is beauty; fo this place ¥ou are the oeason (Madam) you the day, "Tis but a gra'e of spices, till your face Exhale them, and a thick close bud display. XVidowed and reclused else, her sweets she enshrines As China, when the suu st Brazil dines. Out from your chariot, luoming breaks ai nlght, And falsifies both computations so; Sinee a new world doth rise here from your light, We your new creatures, by new rkonings go. This shows that you tom nature lothly stray, That surfer hot an artifieial dav. In this vou have ruade the eou the antipodes, And wilPd your delegate, the vulgar sun, To do profane autmnnal offices, Whilst here to you we sacrifiee ruu; And whcther pricsts, or organs, you we obey, We oeund your influence, and your dictates sav.

All that is filled, and ail that which doth fill, Ail the round world, to man is but a pill: In all it works not, but it is in ail Poisonous, or purgative or cordial. For knowledge kiudles calentures in some, And is to others icy opiuln. As brave as truc, is that profession than lVhich you do use to make: that you know man. This makes it credible, you have dwelt upon A 11 worthy books, and nosv are such an one; Actions are authors, and of those in you 'our fi'ieuds find every day a mart of new.

7"0 tke Countess of Be, l, tbrd. To have written then, when you svrit, seemed to lVorst of spiritual vices, simouy; And hot t" have written then, seems llttle less Than wort of civil vices, thanklessuess. In this, ni)" doubt I seem'd loth to eonfess, In that, I seem'd to sbun beholdingness. But "ris hot so, nothing, as I ara, lnav Pay ail they bave, and yet have all to pay. Sut.h borrow in their payments, and owe more By having leave to write so, than betbre. Yet sinee rich mines iii barren grounds are shown, May hot I yiehl (hot gohl) but eoal or stone. Temples were hot demolished, thougl profane: Here Peter, Jove's—there Paul have Dian's fane. So, wbether my hynms you adroit or ehoose, In me you've hallowed a pagan muse; And denizen'd a stranger, who, mistau.,_,ht By blamers of the rimes they marred, bath sought Virtues in eorners, whieh now bravelv do Shine in the world's best part, or all, in)'ou*. I bave been told, that virtue in courtiers' llearts Suffers an ostraeism, and departs. Profit, case, fitness, plenty, bid it go, But whither, only knowing you, I know; * " Or ail it, you." Anderson's Poets.

'ou, or vour rb.tue, tvo v,:t uses serres, It rausonls Olle sex, and one court prerves; Tllere's nothing but your worth, which behag truc, Iç known to anv otber, hot to yon. And you can never know it: to adndt o know]cdge of yor wortb, is some of it. Bnt since to you, your praises distords be, Stop others' ills, to meditate with me. Oh  to coufess we kuow hot wlmt we xvould, Is half excuse, we kuov not what we should. Lihtness depressetb us, emptiness ls, We sweat and falot, yet still go down the hills As new philosoldy arrests tlm suu, And bids tbe passive eartb about it run, So we have dull'd out mind, it hath no ends: Only the body's busy, and pretends; As dead low earth eelil»ses and controls The qulek high moon:  doth the body, uls. lu none but us, are such mixed engines found, As hauds of double oee: for the ground We till with them, and them to heaven we raise Who prayedess labours, or, without thi, prays, I)oth but one lmlf: that's none. tic whieh said, ploul 1 d loog" wt bacg , to look up doth allow. Goed seed degenerates, and oft obeys The irs diseuse, and into cockle strays. Let the mind's thoughts be but transplanted Into the dy, and bastardly they row. XVhat hate could hurt out dirs like out love We but no foreign tyrants eould remove, These hot engraved, but inrn dignities Caskets of souls, t¢mples, nd palaces. For bodie hall fm death redeemed be: Sos but preserved, hot naturally free; As men fo out prisons, new souls fo s re nt, XVhich learn it there, and corne in innocent. First seeds of every creature are in us, Vhate'er the world bath bad, or precious, Man' body can pdce. Hence bath it been That tone, worms, frogs, and snakes in man are sn. But whoe'er saw, though nature can work so, That pearl, or gold, or corn in man d grow VOL. çl. 2

Ve've added to the world Vil'ginia, and Selmt Two new stars lately to the firmament: Vhy grudge we us (hot heaven) the dignity T' increase with ours, those fait souls" COlnpany. But I must end this ]etter; though it do Stand on two truths, neither is true to you. Virtue bath some perverseness; for she will Neither be]ieve her good, nor others il]. Even in your virtue's best paradise, Virtue hath some, but wise degrees of vice. Too many virtues, or too much of one, Begets in you unjust suspicion; And ignorance of vice, makes virtue less, Quenching compassion of out wretchcdness. But these are riddles; some aspersion Of vice becomes well some complexion. Statesmen purge vice with vice, and may corrode The bad with bad—a spider with a oead; For so, ill thralls hot them, but they rame iii, And make ber do much good against ber will. But in your commonwea]th or world in you, Vice hath no office, or good work to do; Take then no vicious purge, but be content Vith cordial virtue, your known nourishmeut.

XI. To the Countess of Bed.frd.—On Vew Year' I)ay. Tins twilight of two years, hot past nor next, Some emblem is of me, or I of this: Vho, meteor-like, of stuff and form perplext, Vhooe what, and wkere, in disputation is, If I shod eall me anythi» 9, should niss. I sure the years, and me, and find me not Debtor to th" o]d, nor creditor to the new: That cammt say, my than I have forgot, 'or trust I this with hopes, and yet scarce true, This bravery is since these rime show'd me*, you.  In demon, " Sce the t show me you." The oid etion   in tbe text, but with no comma af me.Eo.

In recompense, I would shov future times Vhat you were, and teach them t" urge towards such; Verse embalms virtue, and tombs or thrones of rhTaes Preserve frai] transitory fame, as much As spice doth bodies, from corrupt air's touch. Mine are short-lived; the tincture of your naine Creates in them, but dissipates as fast, New spirit; for strong agents, with the saine Force that doth warm and cherish, us do waste: Kept hot vith strong extracts, no bodies last. So, my verse bui]t of your just praise, might want I, teason and likelihood, the firmest base; And, ruade of miracle, now faith is scant, Vill vanish soon, and so possess uo place: And you, and it, too much grace might disgrace. Vhen ail (as truth commands assent) confess Ail truth of you, yet they will doutt how L One corn of one low ant-hilPs dust, and less, Should naine, know, or express a thin so high And (hot an inch) measure infinity. I cannot tell them, nor myself, nor you, But leave, lest truth be "ndangered by my praise  And turn to God, 'ho knows I think this true, And useth oint, when such a heart mis-says, To make it good; for such a praiser pmys. Ho wi]l best teach you, how you should lay out His stock of.beauty, learning, favour, blood: He will perplex security with doubt, And clear tbose doubts; hide from you, and show you good; And so increase your appetite and food. He wi]l teach you, that good and bad have hot One latittde in cloisters, and in court  Indifferent there the greatest space hath got, Some pity "s hot good there: some vain disport. On this side sin, 'ith that place may comport. 'et he, as he bounds seas, wi]l fix your hours, Vhich pleasure, and delight may hot ingress  And though -hat none else lost, be truliest yours, He wi]l make york, what)'ou did hot possess, By usin others', hot vice, btt weakess. 2H2 tle will make vou speak truths, and credibly, And nmke vou doubt, that others do hot so: He will provide you keys and locks, to spy And scape.pies, to good ends; and he will shosv What yon mav hot aeknowledge, what not know. For your own conscience, he gives innocence, But for your faine, a disereet wariness  And though to seape, than to revenge, offenee, Be better, he shows both: and to repress Joy, when your state swells, sadne.s when "tis less. Fl'Om ueed of tears he will defend vour soul,  h" make a rebaptizing of one tear; He eanuot (that'.% he will hot) disenroll S'out naine  anti when with active joy we hêar This private Gospel, then "ris out lleW year.

IIA,X to God's inaage, Eve to man'. was ruade., Nor find we that God breathed a soul in her; Canons will hot, church functions you invade, h'or laws to civil office you prefer.

XVho vagrant tran.itory comets sees, V'onders, bec,use they're rare; but a new star ,Vhose motion with the firmament agrees, Is miracle: for there no new things are.

woman so perehanee mild innocence A seldom cornet i», but active good miracle, which reason scapes, and sense; For art and nature this in them withstood.

As such a star, whieh 31af led to view The manger-cradled infant, God below; By virtue's beams, by faine, derived from you, May apt soul.q, and the worst may virtue kllOW.

If the world's age and death be argued well By the sun's fidl, which n,»w towards earth doth bend, Thon we might tar that virtue, ince site fell So lov as wonmn, should be tear her end.

But she's hot stoopc,I, hut raiscd; exilcd by men Site tte,l to heavcu, that's hcavenly things, that's you, She was in all men, thinly scattered then, Bnt now amasse,I, contracted in a fcw.

Site gilded us; but v,m are gold, and shc, Us she informed, but transubstantiates you; Soft dispositions which ductile be, Elixir-like, she makcs hot clean, but new.

Thongh you a wife's and mothcr's naine ret:tin, "Tis hot as woman, for ail are hot so; But virtue having ruade you virtue, "s thin T" adhere in these uame, ber and you fo show.

Else, beiug alike pure, we shouhl neither see; As watcr bcing iuto aiL" rarified, Ncither appear, till in oue clo,I they be, So tbr our sakcs.v,»u do low names:dfi,.le.

Taught by great constellations, which beiug fi'amed Of the most stars, take low namcs, Cab attd 13ull, When single planers by the gods are named, h'ou covet no great names, of great things full.

So you, as woman,,»ne doth comprchcnd, And i1 the veil* of kin,lred others see; To some ye are revealed, as in a fi'iend. And as a virtuous prince far off; to me.

To whom, beeause ri'oto you ail virtues flov, And "tis not none, to date contemplate.vou, I, which to you as your true subject owe Some tribute for that, so these lines are due.

If you eau think these flatteries, they are, For then your judgment is below ln.V pi'aise; If they were so, oft flatteries work as far As counsels, and as far th" endeavour raise.

So my iii reaching you might there grow good, But I renlain a poisoned fountain still; But not your beauty, virtue, knowledge, blood Are more above all flattery, than my will. And if I flatter any, "ris hot you But my own judgment, who did long ago Pronounce, that all these praises should be true, And virtue should your beauty and birth outgrow. Now that my prophecies are all fulfilled, Rather than God should not be honoured too, And all these gifts confessed, which he instilled, Yourself were bound to say that which I do. So I but your recorder ara in this, Or mouth, or speaker of the universe, A ministerial notary, for "ris Not I, but you and faine, that make this verse; I was your prophet in your younger days, And now your chaplain, God in you to l»raise.

XIII. To zlr. L IV. AL, hall, sweet poet! more full of more strong tire Than bath or shall enkindle any spirit *, I loved what nature gave thee, but this merit (ff wit and art I love not. but admire; V'ho have belote, or shall write after thee, Their works, though toughly laboured, will be Like infancy or age to man's ftrm stay, Or early and ]ate twilights to mid-day. Men say, and truly, that they better be Vhich be envied than pitied: therefore ], Because I wish thee best, do thee envy; O would'st thou, by like reason, pity me, But care not for me, I, that ever was In nature's and in fortune's gifts, (alas, Belote by thy grace got in th" muses" school) A monster and a beggar, am a t'ool. In Anderaon's Poets, « And fidl of more 6trong tire Than hath or hall enkindle my dull 6pirit." •

O how I grieve, that late-born modesty Hath got such root in easy waxen hearts, That men may hot themselves their own good parts Extol, without suspect of surquedry; For, but thyself, no subject can be fouud XVorthy thy quill, nor any quill resound Thy work, but thine: how good it were to see A poem in thy praise, and writ by thee.

Now if this song be too harsh for rhyme, yet, as The painter's bad god made a good devil, "Twill be good prose, although the verse be evil. If thou forger the rhyme as thou do'st pass, Then write, then I may follow, and so be Thy debtor, thy eeho, thy foil, thy zany. I shall be thought, if mine like thine I shape, Ail the world's lion, though I be thy ape.