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SIC VIT A.

LIKE to the falling of a starre;
Or as the flights of Eagles are;
Or like the fresh Spring's gaudy hew:
Or filver drops of morning dew;
Or like a wind that chafes the flood;
Or bubbles which on water stood;
Even fuch is Man, whofe borrow'd light
Is ftreight call'd in, and paid to night.

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To my nobleft Friend J. C

Efquire.

SIR,

Hate the Countries durt and manners, yet
I love the filence; I embrace, the wit
And courtship, flowing here in a full tide,
But loathe the expence, the vanity and pride.
No place each way is happy; here I hold
Commerce with fome,' who to my eare unfold
(After a due oath miniftred) the height

And greatneffe of each ftar fhines in the ftate,
The brightneffe, the eclypfe, the influence.
With others I commune, who tell me whence
The torrent doth of forraigne difcord flow:
Relate each skirmifh, battle, overthrow,
Soon as they happen; and by rote can tell
Those Germane townes, even puzzle me to fpell,
The croffe or profperous fate of Princes, they
Afcribe to rafhneffe, cunning, or delay:
And on each action comment with more skill
Then upon Livy, did old Matchavill.

O bufie folly! why doe I my braine
Perplex with the dull pollicies of Spaine,
Or quicke defignes of France? why not repaire
To the pure innocence of the Country ayre.
And neighbor thee, deare friend? who fo doft give
Thy thoughts to worth and vertue, that to live
Bleft, is to trace thy wayes, there, might not we
Arme against Paffion with Philofophie;

"

And by the aide of leifure, fo controule
Whate'er is earth in us, to grow all foule ?
Knowledge doth ignorance ingender when
We ftudy misteries of other men

And forraigne plots. Doe but in thy owne fhade
Thy head upon fome flowry pillow laide,
(Kind Nature's hufwifery) contemplate all
His stratagems who labours to inthrall

The world to his great Master; and you'le finde
Ambition mockes itfelfe, and grafpes the wind.
Not conqueft makes us great, blood is too deare
A price for Glory: Honour doth appeare
To statesmen like a vifion in the night,
And juggler-like workes on the deluded fight.
The unbufied only wife: for no respect
Indangers them to error; they affect
Truth in her naked beauty, and behold
Man with an equall eye, not bright in gold
Or tall in title; fo much him they weigh
As Vertue raiseth him above his clay.
Thus let us value things; and fince we find
Time bends us toward death, let's in our mind
Create new Youth, and arme against the rude
Affaults of age; that no dull folitude

Of the Country dead our thoughts, nor bufie care
Of the towne make us not thinke, where now we are
And whether we are bound; Time nere forgot
His journey, though his steps we numbred not.

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A Farewell to the Vanities of the World.

FA

AREWELL, ye gilded follies, pleasing troubles;
Farewell, ye honour'd rags, ye glorious bubbles;

Fame's but a hollow echo, gold pure clay;
Honour the darling but of one fhort day.
Beauty, th' eye's idol but a damafk'd fkin;
State but a golden prifon to live in,

And torture free-born minds: embroider'd trains
Merely but pageants for proud fwelling veins ;
And blood ally'd to greatness, is alone
Inherited, not purchas'd nor our own,

Fame, honour, beauty, state, train, blood and birth,
Are but the fading bloffoms of the earth.

I would be great, but that the fun doth still
Level his rays against the rifing hill:

I would be high, but fee the proudest oak
Moft fubject to the rending thunder-stroke:
I would be rich, but fee men too unkind,
Dig in the bowels of the richest mind:
I would be wife, but that I often fee
The fox fufpected, whilft the afs goes free:
I would be fair, but fee the fair and proud
Like the bright fun, oft fetting in a cloud:
I would be poor, but know the humble grafs
Still trampled on by each unworthy ass:
Rich hated: wife fufpected: fcorn'd if poor:
Great fear'd: fair tempted: high ftill envy'd more:

I have wish'd all; but now I wifh for neither;
Great, high, ich, wife nor fair; pcor I'll be rather.

Would

Would the World now adopt me for her heir,
Would Beauty's Queen entitle me "The Fair,"
Fame speak me Fortune's minion, could I vie
Angels with India; with a speaking eye

Command bare heads, bow'd knees, ftrike Juftice dumb,
As well as blind and lame, or give a tongue

To ftones by epitaphs: be call'd Great Mafter
In the loose rhimes of every poetaster?
Could I be more than any man that lives,
Great, fair, rich, wife, all in fuperlatives:
Yet I more freely would these gifts refign,
Than ever fortune would have made them mine,

And hold one minute of this holy leisure,
Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure.

Welcome pure thoughts, welcome ye filent groves,
These guests, these courts, my foul most dearly loves :
Now the wing'd people of the fky fhall fing
My chearful anthems to the gladfome fpring:
A prayer-book now fhall be my looking-glafs,
In which I will adore fweet Virtues face.
Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares,
No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-fac'd fears:
Then here I'll fit, and figh my hot love's folly,
And learn t' affect an holy melancholy;

And if Contentment be a stranger then,
I'll ne'er look for it, but in Heaven again.

Sir H. Wotton.

The

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