home | index | concordance | composite list of variants | help |
A Letter To M.r I.W.
All hayle, Sweete poet, more full of more strong fire [198]
Then hath or shall enkindle my dull spirit
I loue what Nature gaue thee, but thy merit
Of witt and art I loue not, but admire.
Who hath before or shall write after thee
Theyr workes, though toughly laboured, will bee
Like Infancy or Age to mans firme stay
Or early and late, Twylights to Midday.
Men say, and truely, that they better bee
(W.ch bee enuyd then pittyd, therefore I
Because I wish thee best doe thee enuy.
O wouldst thou by like reason pitty mee!
But care not for mee; I that euer was
In fortunes, or in Natures gifts, alas.
(But for thy Grace got in the Muses schoole)
A Monster and a begger, am now a foole.|
O how I greeue that late borne Modesty
Hath got such roote in all soft* waxen harts
That men may not themselues theyr owne good parts
Extoll without suspect of surquedry?
for, but thy selfe, no subiect can bee found
Worthy thy Quill, or any quill resound
Thy worth but thine. How good it were to see
A poeme in thy prayse and writt by thee?
Now if this Song bee too harsh for rime; yet as
The Paynters badd God made a good diuell
T'will bee good prose although the verse bee evill
If thou forget the rime as thou dost passe
Then write that I may follow, and so bee
Thy debtor, foyle, thy Eccho thy Zany
I will bee thought, if mine like thine I shape
All the worlds Lyon though I bee thy Ape.

[CW: Like one]