IDENTILIN$$ F13800A|BedfWrit|1633|pp. 84-87\JH\fs(M)\4-3-91\P:EWS\o(OJ;MH[STC7045(A)])\5-23-00;7-31-02\C:JMK\3-20-01;JSC\4-30-01;8-22-02\P:DAS\cd(DFo)\2-20-02\C:JSC\4-21-03\p:AWJ\cd(TxAM1)\2-18-05\c:JAH\2-23-05\F:JSC\2-8-06
138.00A.0HE %X%1To the Countesse of Bedford%2.
138.00A.001 T%+'Have written then, when you writ, seem'd to mee
138.00A.002 Worst of spirituall vices, Simony,
138.00A.003 And not t'have written then, seemes little lesse
138.00A.004 Then worst of civill vices, thanklessenesse.
138.00A.005 In this, my doubt I seem'd loath to confesse, 
138.00A.006 In that, I seem'd to shunne beholdingnesse.
138.00A.007 But 'tis not soe, %1nothing%2, as I am, may,
138.00A.008 Pay all they have, and yet have all to pay.
138.00A.009 Such borrow in their payments, and owe more
138.00A.010 By having leave to write so, then before.
138.00A.011 Yet since rich mines in barren grounds are showne,
138.00A.012 May not I yeeld (not gold) but coale or stone?
138.00A.013 Temples were not demolish'd, though prophane:
138.00A.014 Here %1Peter Ioves%2, there %1Paul%2 have Dian's Fane.
138.00A.015 So whether my hymnes you admit or chuse,
138.00A.016 In me you'have hallowed a Pagan Muse, [CW:And]
138.00A.017 And denizend a stranger, who mistaught [p.85]
138.00A.018 By blamers of the times they mard, hath sought
138.00A.019 Vertues in corners, which now bravely doe
138.00A.020 Shine in the worlds best part, or all, in you.
138.00A.021 I have beene told, that vertue'in Courtiers hearts
138.00A.022 Suffers an Ostracisme, and departs.
138.00A.023 Profit, ease, fitnesse, plenty, bid it goe,
138.00A.024 But whither, only knowing you, I know;
138.00A.025 Your, or you vertue, two vast uses serves,
138.00A.026 It ransomes one sex, and one Court preserves;
138.00A.027 There's nothing but your worth, which being true,
138.00A.028 Is knowne to any other, not to you.
138.00A.029 And you can never know it; To admit
138.00A.030 No knowledge of your worth, it some of it.
138.00A.031 But since to you, your praises discords bee,
138.00A.032 Stop others ills, to meditate with mee.
138.00A.033 Oh! to confesse wee know not what we should,
138.00A.034 Is halfe excuse, wee know not what we would.
138.00A.035 Lightnesse depresseth us, emptinesse fills,
138.00A.036 We sweat and faint, yet still goe downe the hills;
138.00A.037 As new Philosophy arrests the Sunne,
138.00A.038 And bids the passive earth about it runne,
138.00A.039 So wee have dull'd our minde, it hath no ends;
138.00A.040 Onely the bodie's busie, and pretends;
138.00A.041 As dead low earth ecclipses and controules
138.00A.042 The quick high Moone: so doth the body, Soules.
138.00A.043 In none but us, are such mixt engines found,
138.00A.044 As hands of double office: For, the ground
138.00A.045 We till with them; and them to heav'n wee raise;
138.00A.046 Who prayer-lesse labours, or, without this, prayes, [CW:Doth]
138.00A.047 Doth but one halfe, that's none; He which said, %1Plough%2 [p.86]
138.00A.048 %1And%2 %1looke%2 %1not%2 %1back%2, to looke up doth allow.
138.00A.049 Good seed degenerates, and oft obeyes
138.00A.050 The soyles disease, and into cockle strayes.
138.00A.051 Let the minds thoughts be but transplanted so,
138.00A.052 Into the body,'and bastardly they grow.
138.00A.053 What hate could hurt our bodies like our love?
138.00A.054 Wee but no forraigne tyrans could remove,
138.00A.055 These not ingrav'd, but inborne dignities
138.00A.056 Caskets of soules; Temples, and Palaces:
138.00A.057 For, bodies shall from death redeemed bee,
138.00A.058 Soules but preserv'd, not naturally free;
138.00A.059 As men to'our prisons, new soules to us are sent,
138.00A.060 Which learne it there, and come in innocent.
138.00A.061 First seeds of every creature are in us,
138.00A.062 What ere the world hath bad, or pretious,
138.00A.063 Mans body can produce, hence hath it beene
138.00A.064 That stones, wormes, frogges, and snakes in man are %\(seene:
138.00A.065 But who ere saw, though nature can worke soe,
138.00A.066 That, pearle, or gold, or corne in man did grow.
138.00A.067 We'have added to the world Virginia,'and sent
138.00A.068 Two new starres lately to the firmament;
138.00A.069 Why grudge wee us (not heaven) the dignity
138.00A.070 T'increase with ours, those faire soules company.
138.00A.071 But I must end this letter, though it doe
138.00A.072 Stand on two truths, neither is true to you.
138.00A.073 Vertue hath some perversenesse; For she will
138.00A.074 Neither beleeve her good, nor others ill,
138.00A.075 Even in your vertues best paradise,
138.00A.076 Vertue hath some, but wise degrees of vice. [CW:Too]
138.00A.077 Too many vertues, or too much of one [p.87]
138.00A.078 Begets in you unjust suspition.
138.00A.079 And ignorance of vice, makes vertue lesse,
138.00A.080 Quenching compassion of our wrechednesse.
138.00A.081 But these are riddles; Some aspersion
138.00A.082 Of vice becomes well some complexion.
138.00A.083 Statesmen purge vice with vice, and may corrode
138.00A.084 The bad with bad, a spider with a toad:
138.00A.085 For so, ill thralls not them, but they tame ill
138.00A.086 And make her do much good against her will,
138.00A.087 But in your Commonwealth or world in you
138.00A.088 Vice hath no office, or good worke to doe.
138.00A.089 Take then no vitious purge, but be content
138.00A.090 With cordiall vertue, your knowne nourishment.
138.00A.0SS [om]
138.00A.0$$ Even no'd lines ind 2 sps; l.1: 1st elision mark doesn't print in M, but sp. for it