And gratulate the breach I grieved before,
Which fate, it seems, caused in the history,
Only to boast thy merit in supply.

Oh, wouldst thou add like hand to all the rest!
Or, better work! were thy glad country blessed
To have her story woven in thy thread,
Minerva's loom was never richer spread.
For who can master those great parts like thee,
That liv'st from hope, from fear, from faction
free?

Thou hast thy breast so clear of potent crimes,
Thou need'st not shrink at voice of after-times;
Whose knowledge claimeth at the helm to stand,
But wisely thrusts not forth a forward hand,
No more than Sallust in the Roman state:
As then his cause, his glory emulate.
Although to write be lesser than to do,
It is the next deed, and a great one too.
We need a man that knows the several graces
Of history, and how to apt their places;
Where brevity, where splendor, and where
height,

Where sweetness is required, and where weight:
We need a man can speak of the intents,
The councils, actions, orders, and events
Of states, and censure them; we need his pen
Can write the things, the causes, and the men;
But most we need his faith (and all have you)
That dares not write things false, nor hide things

true.

XCVI. TO JOHN DONNE.

Who shall doubt, Donne, whe'er I a poet be,
When I dare send my Epigrams to thee?

That so alone canst judge, s' alone dost make;
And in thy censures evenly dost take
As free simplicity, to disavow,

As thou hast best authority t' allow?
Read all I send; and if I find but one

66

Marked by thy hand, and with the better stone, My title's sealed. Those that for claps do write, Let pui'nees', porters', players' praise delight, And, till they burst, their backs, like asses, load: A man should seek great glory, and not broad.

See

XCVII. ON THE NEW MOTION.67

you yon' motion? not the old fa-ding, 68 Nor Captain Pod," nor yet the Eltham thing; 70 But one more rare, and in the case so new:

66 Punies.

67 A motion was the term applied to a puppet-show, and here to a puppet.

"O, excellent motion! O, exceeding puppet."

Two Gentlemen of Verona, II. i. So Jonson also, in his Bartholomew Fair, Act V. Sc. iv., introduces a motion at length.

39

68" With such delicate burthens of dildos and fadings.""
A Winter's Tale, IV. iii.

A rustic Irish dance, described at length in Boswell's edition of Malone's Shakspere, under above passage.

A well-known master of a puppet-show.

70 A similar allusion occurs in The Silent Woman: "The perpetual motion is here, and not at Eltham."-B. Eltham was a market town of importance at this time, and the palace there was a royal residence.

His cloak with orient velvet quite lined through; His rosy ties and garters so o'erblown,

By his each glorious parcel to be known!

He wont was to encounter me aloud,

Where'er he met me ;·

now he's dumb or proud.

Know you the cause? he's neither land nor lease,
Nor bawdy stock that travels for increase,
Nor office in the town, nor place in court,

71

Nor 'bout the bears, nor noise to make lords sport.
He is no favorite's favorite, no dear trust
Of any madam's, hath need o' squires, and must.
Nor did the King of Denmark " him salute,
When he was here; nor hath he got a suit
Since he was gone, more than the one he wears.
Nor are the queen's most honored maids by th'

ears

About his form. What then so swells each limb? Only his clothes have over-leavened him.

XCVIII. TO SIR THOMAS ROE.72

Thou hast begun well, Roe, which stand well too,
And I know nothing more thou hast to do.
He that is round within himself, and straight,
Need seek no other strength, no other height;
Fortune upon him breaks herself, if ill,

71 Christian IV., who visited this country in 1606.— G. 72 Nephew of Sir John Roe,- see Epigram xxvii. p. 16, and the most distinguished member of his family. He was knighted by James I., and appointed ambassador to the Mogul, at the instance of the East India Company, to whom he rendered valuable services during the four years he held the appointment. He died in 1644. — B.

And what would hurt his virtue, makes it still.78 That thou at once then nobly mayst defend With thine own course the judgment of thy friend, Be always to thy gathered self the same,

And study conscience more than thou wouldst fame.

Though both be good, the latter yet is worst,
And ever is ill got without the first.

XCIX. TO THE SAME.

That thou hast kept thy love, increased thy will,
Bettered thy trust to letters; that thy skill
Hast taught thyself worthy thy pen to tread:
And that to write things worthy to be read;
How much of great example wert thou, Roe,
If time to facts, as unto men would owe?
But much it now avails, what's done, of whom;
The self-same deeds, as diversely they come,
From place or fortune, are made high or low,
And e'en the praiser's judgment suffers so.
Well, though thy name less than our great ones be,
Thy fact is more; let truth encourage thee.

C. ON PLAYWRIGHT.

Playwright, by chance, hearing some toys I'd writ,

Cried to my face, they were th' elixir of wit:

78" In se ipso totus, teres atque rotundus
Externi ne quid valeat per leve morari,

In quem manca ruit semper fortuna."

HORACE, Sat. II. 7, 86-89.

And I must now believe him; for to-day
Five of my jests, then stolen, past him a play.

CI. INVITING A FRIEND TO SUPPER.

To-night, grave sir, both my poor house and I
Do equally desire your company;

Not that we think us worthy such a guest,
But that your worth will dignify our feast,
With those that come; whose grace may make
that seem

Something, which else could hope for no esteem.
It is the fair acceptance, sir, creates

The entertainment perfect, not the cates.
Yet shall you have, to rectify your palate,
An olive, capers, or some better salad
Ushering the mutton; with a short-legged hen,
If we can get her, full of eggs, and then,
Lemons, and wine for sauce: to these, a coney
Is not to be despaired of for our money;

And though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks,

The sky not falling, think we may have larks. I'll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come, Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some May yet be there; and godwit if we can;

75

Knat, rail, and ruff, too.

74 Bell corrects to "bitter."

Howsoe'er, my man'

76

75 Godwit and knat are of the family of snipes.

76 Richard Brome, to whom he afterwards addressed some

verses. See post, p. 344. — B.

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