[Hexastichon Bibliopolae. _1633-69_]
Hexastichon ad Bibliopolam.
Incerti.
_In thy Impression of_ Donnes _Poems rare,
For his Eternitie thou hast ta'ne care:
'Twas well, and pious; And for ever may
He live: Yet shew I thee a better way;
Print but his Sermons, and if those we buy,
He, We, and Thou shall live t' Eternity._
[Hexastichon ad Bibliopolam. _1635-69_]
_Dedication to the Edition of 1650._
To the Right Honourable
_William_ Lord _Craven_ Baron of
_Hamsted-Marsham_.
_My Lord_,
Many of these Poems have, for severall impressions, wandred up and
down trusting (as well they might) upon the Authors reputation;
neither do they now complain of any injury but what may proceed either
from the kindnesse of the Printer, or the curtesie of the Reader; the
one by adding something too much, lest any spark of this sacred fire
might perish undiscerned, the other by putting such an estimation upon
the wit & fancy they find here, that they are content to use it
as their own: as if a man should dig out the stones of a royall
Amphitheatre to build a stage for a countrey show. Amongst all the
monsters this unlucky age has teemed with, I finde none so prodigious,
as the Poets of these later times, wherein men as if they would level
understandings too as well as estates, acknowledging no inequality of
parts and Judgements, pretend as indifferently to the chaire of wit as
to the Pulpit, & conceive themselves no lesse inspired with the spirit
of Poetry then with that of Religion: so it is not onely the noise of
Drums and Trumpets which have drowned the Muses harmony, or the feare
that the Churches ruine wil destroy their Priests likewise, that now
frights them from this Countrey, where they have been so ingenuously
received, but these rude pretenders to excellencies they unjustly
own who profanely rushing into _Minervaes_ Temple, with noysome Ayres
blast the lawrell w^{ch} thunder cannot hurt. In this sad condition
these learned sisters are fled over to beg your L^{ps}. protection,
who have been so certain a patron both to arts and armes, and who in
this generall confusion have so intirely preserved your Honour, that
in your Lordship we may still read a most perfect character of what
_England_ was in all her pompe and greatnesse, so that although these
poems were formerly written upon severall occasions, and to severall
persons, they now unite themselves, and are become one pyramid to set
your Lordships statue upon, where you may stand like Armed _Apollo_
the defendor of the Muses, encouraging the Poets now alive to
celebrate your great Acts by affording your countenance to his poems
that wanted onely so noble a subject.
My Lord,
_Your most humble servant_