And why not I, as hee
That's greatest, if as free,
(In sundry strains that striue,
Since there so many be)
Th' old _Lyrick_ kind reuiue?
I will, yea, and I may;
Who shall oppose my way?
For what is he alone,
That of himselfe can say,
Hee's Heire of _Helicon_? 10
APOLLO, and the Nine,
Forbid no Man their Shrine,
That commeth with hands pure;
Else be they so diuine,
They will not him indure.
For they be such coy Things,
That they care not for Kings,
And dare let them know it;
Nor may he touch their Springs,
That is not borne a Poet. 20
Pyreneus, _King The _Phocean_ it did proue,
of_ Phocis, Whom when foule Lust did moue,
_attempting to Those Mayds vnchast to make,
rauish the Muses._ Fell, as with them he stroue,
His Neck and iustly brake.
That instrument ne'r heard,
Strooke by the skilfull Bard,
It strongly to awake;
But it th' infernalls skard,
And made Olympus quake. 30
Sam. lib. 1. As those Prophetike strings
cap. 16. Whose sounds with fiery Wings,
Draue Fiends from their abode,
Touch'd by the best of Kings,
That sang the holy Ode.
Orpheus _the_ So his, which Women slue,
Thracian _Poet_. And it int' Hebrus threw,
Caput, Hebre, Such sounds yet forth it sent,
lyramque Excipis. The Bankes to weepe that drue,
&c. Ouid. lib. 11. As downe the streame it went. 40
Metam.
Mercury _inuentor That by the Tortoyse shell,
of the Harpe, as_ To MAYAS Sonne it fell,
Horace Ode 10. The most thereof not doubt
lib. 1. _curuaq; But sure some Power did dwell,
lyra parente_. In Him who found it out.
Thebes _fayned The Wildest of the field,
to haue beene And Ayre, with Riuers t' yeeld,
raysed by Which mou'd; that sturdy Glebes,
Musicke._ And massie Oakes could weeld,
To rayse the pyles of _Thebes_. 50
And diuersly though Strung,
So anciently We sung,
To it, that Now scarce knowne,
If first it did belong
To _Greece_, or if our Owne.
_The ancient_ The _Druydes_ imbrew'd,
British _Priests_ With Gore, on Altars rude
so called of With Sacrifices crown'd,
their abode in In hollow Woods bedew'd,
woods. Ador'd the Trembling sound. 60
Pindar _Prince of Though wee be All to seeke,
the_ Greeke Of PINDAR that Great _Greeke_,
lyricks, _of whom_ To Finger it aright,
Horace: Pindarum The Soule with power to strike,
quisquis studet, His hand retayn'd such Might.
&c. Ode 2. lib. 4.
Horace _first of Or him that _Rome_ did grace
the_ Romans _in Whose Ayres we all imbrace,
that kind_. That scarcely found his Peere,
Nor giueth PHOEBVS place,
For Strokes diuinely cleere. 70
_The_ Irish The _Irish_ I admire,
_Harpe_. And still cleaue to that Lyre,
As our Musike's Mother,
And thinke, till I expire,
APOLLO'S such another.
As _Britons_, that so long
Haue held this Antike Song,
And let all our Carpers
Forbeare their fame to wrong,
Th' are right skilfull Harpers. 80
Southerne, _an_ _Southerne_, I long thee spare,
English _Lyrick_. Yet wish thee well to fare,
Who me pleased'st greatly,
As first, therefore more rare,
Handling thy Harpe neatly.
To those that with despight
Shall terme these Numbers slight,
Tell them their Iudgement's blind,
Much erring from the right,
It is a Noble kind. 90
_An old_ English Nor is 't the Verse doth make,
_Rymer_. That giueth, or doth take,
'Tis possible to clyme,
To kindle, or to slake,
Although in SKELTON'S Ryme.