You have refin'd mee, and to worthyest things
(Vertue, Art, Beauty, Fortune,) now I see
Rarenesse, or use, not nature value brings;
And such, as they are circumstanc'd, they bee.
Two ills can ne're perplexe us, sinne to'excuse; 5
But of two good things, we may leave and chuse.
Therefore at Court, which is not vertues clime,
(Where a transcendent height, (as, lownesse mee)
Makes her not be, or not show) all my rime
Your vertues challenge, which there rarest bee; 10
For, as darke texts need notes: there some must bee
To usher vertue, and say, _This is shee._
So in the country'is beauty; to this place
You are the season (Madame) you the day,
'Tis but a grave of spices, till your face 15
Exhale them, and a thick close bud display.
Widow'd and reclus'd else, her sweets she'enshrines;
As China, when the Sunne at Brasill dines.
Out from your chariot, morning breaks at night,
And falsifies both computations so; 20
Since a new world doth rise here from your light,
We your new creatures, by new recknings goe.
This showes that you from nature lothly stray,
That suffer not an artificiall day.
In this you'have made the Court the Antipodes, 25
And will'd your Delegate, the vulgar Sunne,
To doe profane autumnall offices,
Whilst here to you, wee sacrificers runne;
And whether Priests, or Organs, you wee'obey,
We sound your influence, and your Dictates say. 30
Yet to that Deity which dwels in you,
Your vertuous Soule, I now not sacrifice;
These are _Petitions_ and not _Hymnes_; they sue
But that I may survay the edifice.
In all Religions as much care hath bin 35
Of Temples frames, and beauty,'as Rites within.
As all which goe to Rome, doe not thereby
Esteeme religions, and hold fast the best,
But serve discourse, and curiosity,
With that which doth religion but invest, 40
And shunne th'entangling laborinths of Schooles,
And make it wit, to thinke the wiser fooles:
So in this pilgrimage I would behold
You as you'are vertues temple, not as shee,
What walls of tender christall her enfold, 45
What eyes, hands, bosome, her pure Altars bee;
And after this survay, oppose to all
Bablers of Chappels, you th'Escuriall.
Yet not as consecrate, but merely'as faire,
On these I cast a lay and country eye. 50
Of past and future stories, which are rare,
I finde you all record, and prophecie.
Purge but the booke of Fate, that it admit
No sad nor guilty legends, you are it.
If good and lovely were not one, of both 55
You were the transcript, and originall,
The Elements, the Parent, and the Growth,
And every peece of you, is both their All:
So'intire are all your deeds, and you, that you
Must do the same thinge still; you cannot two. 60
But these (as nice thinne Schoole divinity
Serves heresie to furder or represse)
Tast of Poëtique rage, or flattery,
And need not, where all hearts one truth professe;
Oft from new proofes, and new phrase, new doubts grow, 65
As strange attire aliens the men wee know.
Leaving then busie praise, and all appeale
To higher Courts, senses decree is true,
The Mine, the Magazine, the Commonweale,
The story of beauty,'in Twicknam is, and you. 70
Who hath seene one, would both; As, who had bin
In Paradise, would seeke the Cherubin.
[the Countesse of Bedford. _1633-69:_ _similarly or with
no title_, _B_, _Cy_, _D_, _H40_, _H49_, _Lec_, _N_, _O'F_,
_TCD_]
[2 (Vertue, ... Fortune,)] _brackets Ed:_ Fortune, _1633:_
Fortune; _1635-69_, _Grolier:_ Fortune. _Chambers_. _See
note_]
[5 ne're] nere _1633_]
[6 and] or _1669_]
[8-9 _1633 begins to bracket_ (Where ... not show) _but does
not finish, putting a colon after_ show: _the others drop the
larger brackets, retaining the smaller_ (as ... mee)]
[9 be] see _1669_
show] show: _1633-54:_ show. _1669_]
[11 notes: there some _1633-54:_ notes some: there _1669_]
[17 enshrines; _1719:_ enshrines _1633-69_]
[20 computations so; _1633-69:_ computations; so, _Chambers_]
[42 fooles:] fooles. _1633_]
[48 Bablers _1633:_ Babblers _1635-54:_ Builders _1669_]
[49 faire, _Ed:_ faire; _1633-69_]
[50 eye.] eye, _1633_]
[52 and prophecie] all prophecye _B_, _D_, _H49_, _Lec_, _N_,
_O'F_, _TCD_ prophecie.] prophecie, _1633 some copies_]
[57 Parent] Parents _1669_ Growth, _1669:_ Growth _1633-54_]
[58 both _1633 and MSS.:_ worth _1635-69_, _O'F_ All: _Ed:_
All, _1633-69_]
[60 thinge _B_, _Cy_, _D_, _H40_, _H49_, _N_, _O'F:_ things
_1633-69_, _Lec_]
[61 nice thinne _1633-54:_ nicest _1669_]
[66 aliens _1633_, _1669 and MSS.:_ alters _1635-54_, _O'F_]
[67 and] end _1669_, _not_ lend _as in Chambers' note_
appeale _Ed:_ appeale, _1633-69_]
[68 true, _1633:_ true. _1635-69_]
[71 had bin _1633-35:_ hath bin _1639-69_. _See note_]
To S^r _Edward Herbert_. at _Iulyers_.
Man is a lumpe, where all beasts kneaded bee,
Wisdome makes him an Arke where all agree;
The foole, in whom these beasts do live at jarre,
Is sport to others, and a Theater;
Nor scapes hee so, but is himselfe their prey, 5
All which was man in him, is eate away,
And now his beasts on one another feed,
Yet couple'in anger, and new monsters breed.
How happy'is hee, which hath due place assign'd
To'his beasts, and disaforested his minde! 10
Empail'd himselfe to keepe them out, not in;
Can sow, and dares trust corne, where they have bin;
Can use his horse, goate, wolfe, and every beast,
And is not Asse himselfe to all the rest.
Else, man not onely is the heard of swine, 15
But he's those devills too, which did incline
Them to a headlong rage, and made them worse:
For man can adde weight to heavens heaviest curse.
As Soules (they say) by our first touch, take in
The poysonous tincture of Originall sinne, 20
So, to the punishments which God doth fling,
Our apprehension contributes the sting.
To us, as to his chickins, he doth cast
Hemlocke, and wee as men, his hemlocke taste;
We do infuse to what he meant for meat, 25
Corrosivenesse, or intense cold or heat.
For, God no such specifique poyson hath
As kills we know not how; his fiercest wrath
Hath no antipathy, but may be good
At lest for physicke, if not for our food. 30
Thus man, that might be'his pleasure, is his rod,
And is his devill, that might be his God.
Since then our businesse is, to rectifie
Nature, to what she was, wee'are led awry
By them, who man to us in little show; 35
Greater then due, no forme we can bestow
On him; for Man into himselfe can draw
All; All his faith can swallow,'or reason chaw.
All that is fill'd, and all that which doth fill,
All the round world, to man is but a pill, 40
In all it workes not, but it is in all
Poysonous, or purgative, or cordiall,
For, knowledge kindles Calentures in some,
And is to others icy _Opium_.
As brave as true, is that profession than 45
Which you doe use to make; that you know man.
This makes it credible; you have dwelt upon
All worthy bookes, and now are such an one.
Actions are authors, and of those in you
Your friends finde every day a mart of new. 50
[To S^r Edward _&c._ _1633_, _D_, _H49_, _Lec_, _O'F:_ A
Letter to S^r Edward Herbert (_or_ Harbert). _B_, _Cy_ (_which
adds_ Incerti Authoris), _S96:_ To Sir E. H. _A18_, _N_, _TC:_
_no title_, _P:_ Elegia Vicesima Tertia. _S:_ To S^r Edward
Herbert, now (since _1669_) Lord Herbert of Cherbury, being at
the siege of Iulyers. _1635-69_]
[4 Theater; _Ed:_ Theater, _1633-69:_ Theater. _D_]
[5 prey, _Ed:_ prey; _1633-69_]
[8 breed.] breed; _1633_]
[10 minde! _Ed:_ minde? _1633-69_]
[17 a headlong] a _om. 1669:_ an headlong _1635-54_]
[24 taste; _Ed:_ taste. _1633-69_]
[28 we know _1633 and MSS.:_ men know _1635-69_, _O'F_]
[35 show; _1669:_ show, _1633-54_, _Chambers_]
[36 due, _1633-69:_ due; _Chambers_. _See note_]
[38 All; All _1669:_ All: All _1635-54:_ All, All _1633_
chaw. _1633:_ chaw, _1635-69_, _Grolier_]
[39 fill, _1633-54:_ fill _1669:_ fill; _Grolier_]
[44 icy] jcy _1633_]
[47-8 credible; ... bookes, _Ed:_ credible, ... bookes;
_1633-69:_ credible ... bookes _Grolier_]
_To the Countesse of Bedford._
T'have written then, when you writ, seem'd to mee
Worst of spirituall vices, Simony,
And not t'have written then, seemes little lesse
Then worst of civill vices, thanklessenesse.
In this, my debt I seem'd loath to confesse, 5
In that, I seem'd to shunne beholdingnesse.
But 'tis not soe; _nothings_, as I am, may
Pay all they have, and yet have all to pay.
Such borrow in their payments, and owe more
By having leave to write so, then before. 10
Yet since rich mines in barren grounds are showne,
May not I yeeld (not gold) but coale or stone?
Temples were not demolish'd, though prophane:
Here _Peter Ioves_, there _Paul_ hath _Dian's_ Fane.
So whether my hymnes you admit or chuse, 15
In me you'have hallowed a Pagan Muse,
And denizend a stranger, who mistaught
By blamers of the times they mard, hath sought
Vertues in corners, which now bravely doe
Shine in the worlds best part, or all It; You. 20
I have beene told, that vertue in Courtiers hearts
Suffers an Ostracisme, and departs.
Profit, ease, fitnesse, plenty, bid it goe,
But whither, only knowing you, I know;
Your (or you) vertue two vast uses serves, 25
It ransomes one sex, and one Court preserves.
There's nothing but your worth, which being true,
Is knowne to any other, not to you:
And you can never know it; To admit
No knowledge of your worth, is some of it. 30
But since to you, your praises discords bee,
Stoop, others ills to meditate with mee.
Oh! to confesse wee know not what we should,
Is halfe excuse; wee know not what we would:
Lightnesse depresseth us, emptinesse fills, 35
We sweat and faint, yet still goe downe the hills.
As new Philosophy arrests the Sunne,
And bids the passive earth about it runne,
So wee have dull'd our minde, it hath no ends;
Onely the bodie's busie, and pretends; 40
As dead low earth ecclipses and controules
The quick high Moone: so doth the body, Soules.
In none but us, are such mixt engines found,
As hands of double office: For, the ground
We till with them; and them to heav'n wee raise; 45
Who prayer-lesse labours, or, without this, prayes,
Doth but one halfe, that's none; He which said, _Plough
And looke not back_, to looke up doth allow.
Good seed degenerates, and oft obeyes
The soyles disease, and into cockle strayes; 50
Let the minds thoughts be but transplanted so,
Into the body,'and bastardly they grow.
What hate could hurt our bodies like our love?
Wee (but no forraine tyrants could) remove
These not ingrav'd, but inborne dignities, 55
Caskets of soules; Temples, and Palaces:
For, bodies shall from death redeemed bee,
Soules but preserv'd, not naturally free.
As men to'our prisons, new soules to us are sent,
Which learne vice there, and come in innocent. 60
First seeds of every creature are in us,
What ere the world hath bad, or pretious,
Mans body can produce, hence hath it beene
That stones, wormes, frogges, and snakes in man are seene:
But who ere saw, though nature can worke soe, 65
That pearle, or gold, or corne in man did grow?
We'have added to the world Virginia,'and sent
Two new starres lately to the firmament;
Why grudge wee us (not heaven) the dignity
T'increase with ours, those faire soules company. 70
But I must end this letter, though it doe
Stand on two truths, neither is true to you,
Vertue hath some perversenesse; For she will
Neither beleeve her good, nor others ill.
Even in you, vertues best paradise, 75
Vertue hath some, but wise degrees of vice.
Too many vertues, or too much of one
Begets in you unjust suspition;
And ignorance of vice, makes vertue lesse,
Quenching compassion of our wrechednesse. 80
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 toad:
For so, ill thralls not them, but they tame ill 85
And make her do much good against her will,
But in your Commonwealth, or world in you,
Vice hath no office, or good worke to doe.
Take then no vitious purge, but be content
With cordiall vertue, your knowne nourishment. 90
[the _&c._ _1633-69:_ To the Countesse of B. _N_, _O'F_,
_TCD_]
[5 debt _1669_, _N_, _O'F_, _TCD:_ doubt _1633-54_]
[7 soe; _Ed:_ soe, _1633-54:_ soe. _1669_
_nothings_, _1635-54:_ _nothing_, _1633_, _N_, _TCD:_
_Nothing_ _1669_
may] may, _1633_]
[14 hath] have _1633:_ _om._ _N_, _TCD_ (have _inserted_)
_Dian's_ _1635-54:_ Dian's _1633:_ _Dina's_ _1669_]
[20 or all It; You. _1635-54:_ or all it, you. _1669_, _N_,
_O'F_, _TCD:_ or all, in you. _1633_ (you, _some copies_)]
[25 Your (or you) vertue _O'F:_ Your, or you vertue,
_1633-54:_ You, or you vertue, _1669_]
[26 preserves. _Ed:_ preserves; _1633-69_]
[28 you:] you. _1633-39_]
[30 is some] it some _1633_]
[32 Stoop, others ills] Stoop (Stop _1633_) others ills,
_1633-54:_ Stoop others ills _1669_]
[34 excuse; _Ed:_ excuse, _1633-69_, _Grosart_ (_who
transposes_ should _and_ would), _Chambers:_ excuse _Grolier_.
_See note_
would: _Ed:_ would] _1633-69_]
[36 the hills. _Ed:_ the hills; _1633-69_]
[37 Philosophy. Phylosophy _1633 some copies_, _1669_]
[45 raise;] raise _1633_]
[46 this,] these _1669_]
[50 strayes; _Ed:_ strayes. _1633-69_]
[51 Let] Let but _1669_]
[54 Wee (but no forraine tyrants could) remove _Ed:_ Wee but
no forraine tyrants could, remove _O'F:_ Wee but no forraigne
tyrants could remove, _1633-54_ (tyrans _1633_): We, but no
forrain tyrants, could remove _1669_, _Chambers and Grolier_.
_See note_]
[55 dignities, _Ed:_ dignities _1633-69_]
[56 Palaces: _1633-35:_ Palaces. _1639-69_]
[58 not naturally free. _Ed:_ not naturally free; _1633_, _N_,
_TCD:_ borne naturally free; _1635-69_, _O'F_]
[59 prisons, new soules _1633:_ prisons now, soules _1635-69_,
_O'F:_ prisons, now soules _N_, _TCD_]
[60 vice _1635-69_, _O'F:_ it _1633_, _N_, _TCD_]
[66 That] That, _1633_
grow? _1639-69:_ grow. _1633-35_]
[74 ill.] ill, _1633-35_]
[75 you, _1669:_ you _1635-54:_ your _1633_]
[78 suspition; _Ed:_ suspition. _1633-69_]
[79 makes] make _1635-39_]
[87 Commonwealth, ... you,] _no commas 1633_]
_To the Countesse of_ Bedford.
_On New-yeares day._
This twilight of two yeares, not past nor next,
Some embleme is of mee, or I of this,
Who Meteor-like, of stuffe and forme perplext,
Whose _what_, and _where_, in disputation is,
If I should call mee _any thing_, should misse. 5
I summe the yeares, and mee, and finde mee not
Debtor to th'old, nor Creditor to th'new,
That cannot say, My thankes I have forgot,
Nor trust I this with hopes, and yet scarce true
This bravery is, since these times shew'd mee you. 10
In recompence I would show future times
What you were, and teach them to'urge towards such.
Verse embalmes vertue;'and Tombs, or Thrones of rimes,
Preserve fraile transitory fame, as much
As spice doth bodies from corrupt aires touch. 15
Mine are short-liv'd; the tincture of your name
Creates in them, but dissipates as fast,
New spirits: for, strong agents with the same
Force that doth warme and cherish, us doe wast;
Kept hot with strong extracts, no bodies last: 20
So, my verse built of your just praise, might want
Reason and likelihood, the firmest Base,
And made of miracle, now faith is scant,
Will vanish soone, and so possesse no place,
And you, and it, too much grace might disgrace. 25
When all (as truth commands assent) confesse
All truth of you, yet they will doubt how I,
One corne of one low anthills dust, and lesse,
Should name, know, or expresse a thing so high,
And not an inch, measure infinity. 30
I cannot tell them, nor my selfe, nor you,
But leave, lest truth b'endanger'd by my praise,
And turne to God, who knowes I thinke this true,
And useth oft, when such a heart mis-sayes,
To make it good, for, such a praiser prayes. 35
Hee will best teach you, how you should lay out
His stock of _beauty_, _learning_, _favour_, _blood_;
He will perplex security with doubt,
And cleare those doubts; hide from you,'and shew you good,
And so increase your appetite and food; 40
Hee will teach you, that good and bad have not
One latitude in cloysters, and in Court;
Indifferent there the greatest space hath got;
Some pitty'is not good there, some vaine disport,
On this side sinne, with that place may comport. 45
Yet he, as hee bounds seas, will fixe your houres,
Which pleasure, and delight may not ingresse,
And though what none else lost, be truliest yours,
Hee will make you, what you did not, possesse,
By using others, not vice, but weakenesse. 50
He will make you speake truths, and credibly,
And make you doubt, that others doe not so:
Hee will provide you keyes, and locks, to spie,
And scape spies, to good ends, and hee will show
What you may not acknowledge, what not know. 55
For your owne conscience, he gives innocence,
But for your fame, a discreet warinesse,
And though to scape, then to revenge offence
Be better, he showes both, and to represse
_Ioy_, when your state swells, _sadnesse_ when'tis lesse. 60
From need of teares he will defend your soule,
Or make a rebaptizing of one teare;
Hee cannot, (that's, he will not) dis-inroule
Your name; and when with active joy we heare
This private Ghospell, then'tis our New Yeare. 65
[To the _&c._ _1633-69:_ To the Countesse of B. at New-yeares
tide. _N_, _O'F_, _TCD_]
[3-4 (Meteor-like, ... disputation is,) _1635-69_]
[9 true _Ed:_ true, _1633_ true. _1635-69_]
[10 is, _Ed:_ is _1633-69_ (_in 1633 the interval shows that a
comma was intended_)
times] time _1633_]
[12 such. _Ed:_ such, _1633-69_]
[16 short-liv'd] short liv'd _1633_]
[17 fast,] fast _1633_]
[18 spirits: _Ed:_ spirit: _1633:_ spirits; _1635-69_]
[19 cherish, us doe _1633:_ cherish us, doe _1635-69_]
[27 I, _Ed:_ I _1633-69_]
[28 (One corne ... and lesse,) _1635-69_]
[29 name, know,] _no commas 1633-69_]
[30 And not an inch, _1633:_ And (not an inch) _1635-69_
infinity.] infinite. _1669_]
[35 praiser prayes. _1635-69_, _O'F:_ prayer prayes. _1633:_
prayer praise. _N_, _TCD_]
[37 _blood_;] _blood_, _1633_]
[39 doubts;] doubts, _1633_]
[42 Court; _Ed:_ Court, _1633-69_]
[43 got; _Ed:_ got, _1633-69_]
[44 pitty' _1633-69:_ piety _James Russell Lowell, in Grolier
note_. _See note_]
[45 On this side sinne, _Ed_ (_from Chambers_): On this side,
sinne; _1633:_ On this side, sin, _1635-69_. _See note_]
[46 he, _Ed:_ he _1633-69_]
[47 Which] With _1633_]
[55 may] will _1669_]
[58-9 (though to scape ... Be better,) _1635-69_]
[65 New Yeare.] new yeare, _1633_]
_To the Countesse of Huntingdon._