IDENTILIN$$ F13800G|1669|pp. 160-63\JH copied A\5-28-91\P:EWS\o(CSmH)\6-14-01\C:JMK\7-20-01;JSC\9-7-01\P:DAS\cd(L)\2-20-02\C:JSC\4-22-03\p:mvf\fs(TxAM)\11-15-07\c:mvf\librarian(CSmH)\10-7-08
138.00G.0HE %X%1To the Countess of Bedford%2.
138.00G.001 T%+'Have written then,[unc:~^(L,TxAM,CtY)] when you writ, seem'd to me
138.00G.002 Worst of spiritual vices, Simony:
138.00G.003 And not t'have written then, seems little less
138.00G.004 Than worst of civil vices, thanklesness.[unc:thankelsness.(L,TxAM,CtY)]
138.00G.005 In this, my debt I seem'd loth to confess, 
138.00G.006 In that, I seem'd to shun beholdingness:
138.00G.007 But 'tis not so. %1Nothing%2 as I am, may,[cor:~^(L,TxAM,CtY)]
138.00G.008 Pay all they have, and yet have all to pay. [CW: Such]
138.00G.009 Such borrow in their payments, and owe more [p.161]
138.00G.010 By having leave to write so, than before.
138.00G.011 Yet since rich mines in barren grounds are shown,
138.00G.012 May not I yield, not gold, but coal or stone?
138.00G.013 Temples were not demolish'd, though prophane:
138.00G.014 Here %1Peter%2, %1Joves%2; there %1Paul%2 hath %1Dina's%2[sic] Fane.
138.00G.015 So whether my hymns you admit or chuse,
138.00G.016 In me you have'hallowed a Pagan Muse,
138.00G.017 And denizen'd a stranger, who mis-taught
138.00G.018 By blamers of the times they mar'd, hath sought
138.00G.019 Virtues in corners, which now bravely doe
138.00G.020 Shine in the worlds best part, or all it, you.
138.00G.021 I have been told, that vertue in Courtiers hearts,
138.00G.022 Suffer an Ostracism, and departs.
138.00G.023 Profit, ease, fitness, plenty, bid it go,
138.00G.024 But whither, only knowing you, I know;
138.00G.025 You, or you vertue, two vast uses serves,
138.00G.026 It ransoms one sex, and one Court preserves;
138.00G.027 Theres nothing but your worth, which being true,
138.00G.028 Is known to any other, not to you:
138.00G.029 And you can never know it; To admit
138.00G.030 No knowledg of your worth, is some of it.
138.00G.031 But since to you, your praises discords be,
138.00G.032 Stoop others ills to meditate with me.
138.00G.033 Oh to confess we know not what we should,
138.00G.034 Is half excuse, we know not what we would.
138.00G.035 Lightness depresseth us, emptiness fills,
138.00G.036 We sweat and faint, yet still go down the hills;
138.00G.037 As new Phylosophy arrests the Sun,
138.00G.038 And bids the passive earth about it run,
138.00G.039 So we have dull'd our mind, it hath no ends;
138.00G.040 Only the body's busie,[see_notes] and pretends.
138.00G.041 As dead low earth ecclipses and controuls
138.00G.042 The quick high Moon: so doth the body, Souls. [CW: In]
138.00G.043 In none but us, are such mixt engines found, [p.162]
138.00G.044 As hands of double office: For, the ground
138.00G.045 We till with them; and them to heaven we raise;
138.00G.046 Who prayer-less labours, or, without these prayes,
138.00G.047 Doth but one half, that's none; He which said, %1Plough%2
138.00G.048 %1And%2 %1look%2 %1not%2 %1back%2, to look up doth allow.
138.00G.049 Good seed degenerates, and oft obeys
138.00G.050 The soyles disease, and into cockle strayes.
138.00G.051 Let but the mindes thoughts be but transplanted so,
138.00G.052 Into the body, and bastardly they grow.
138.00G.053 What hate could hurt our bodies like our love?
138.00G.054 We, but no forrain tyrants, could remove
138.00G.055 These not ingrav'd, but inborn dignities
138.00G.056 Caskets of souls; Temples and Palaces.
138.00G.057 For, bodies shall from death redeemed be,
138.00G.058 Souls but preserv'd, born naturally free;
138.00G.059 As men to'our prisons now, souls to us are sent,
138.00G.060 Which learn vice there, and come in innocent.
138.00G.061 First seeds of every creature are in us,
138.00G.062 What ere the world hath bad, or precious,
138.00G.063 Mans body can produce, hence hath it been
138.00G.064 That stones, worms, frogs and snakes in man are seen;
138.00G.065 But who e'r saw, though nature can work so,
138.00G.066 That pearl, or gold, or corn in man did grow?
138.00G.067 We have added to the world Virginia, and sent
138.00G.068 Two new stars lately to the firmament;
138.00G.069 Why grudge we us (not heaven) the dignity
138.00G.070 T'increase with ours those fair souls company?
138.00G.071 But I must end this letter, though it do
138.00G.072 Stand on two truths, neither is true to you.
138.00G.073 Vertue hath some perversness; for she will
138.00G.074 Neither believe her good, nor others ill.
138.00G.075 Even in you, vertues best paradise,
138.00G.076 Vertue hath some, but wise degrees of vice. [CW: Too]
138.00G.077 Too many vertues, or too much of one [p.163]
138.00G.078 Begets in you unjust suspition.
138.00G.079 And ignorance of vice makes vertue less,
138.00G.080 Quenching compassion of our wretchedness.
138.00G.081 But these are riddles: som aspersion
138.00G.082 Of vice becomes well some complexion.
138.00G.083 States-men purge vice with vice, and may corrode
138.00G.084 The bad with bad, a spider with a toad.
138.00G.085 For so, ill thralls not them, but they tame ill,
138.00G.086 And make her do much good against her will;
138.00G.087 But in your Common-wealth, or world in you,
138.00G.088 Vice hath no office, or good work to do.
138.00G.089 Take then no vicious purge, but be content
138.00G.090 With cordial vertue, your known nourishment.
128.00G.0SSom
138.00G.0$$ No sts; no ind; in L/cd copy: l.40 comma apparently prints as tiny speck: there's 
extra space as for a comma; l.66 "pearl" might be followed by ";" instead of "," but dot--
normally slightly to left of ","--is slightly to right