IDENTILIN$$  F138C09|BedfWrit|Luttrell MS|ff. 73-74v\E:GL\P:EWS\o\7-7-95\C:JSC\Sept'95;6-4-01
138.C09.0HE  %XTo the Countesse of Bedford.
138.C09.001  T'haue written then when you wrote, seemd to me
138.C09.002  Worst of Spirituall vices, Symonye;
138.C09.003  And not t'haue written then, is little lesse
138.C09.004  Then worst of Ciuill vices, Thanklessnesse.
138.C09.005  In this my debt I seemd loth to confesse
138.C09.006  In that I seemd to shunne Beholdingnesse.
138.C09.007  But tis not so; nothings, as I am, may
138.C09.008  Pay all they haue, & yet haue all to pay;
138.C09.009  Such borrow in their payments & owe more
138.C09.010  By hauing leaue to write so, then before. [CW:om]
138.C09.011  Yet since rich mines in barren grounds are showne [73v]
138.C09.012  May not I yeald (not Gold) but Cole or stone?
138.C09.013  Temples were not demolishd though prophane
138.C09.014  Heere Peeter, Ioues; there Paull hath Dian's fane:
138.C09.015  So whether my Hymnes you admitt or choose
138.C09.016  In me you haue hallowed a Pagan Muse
138.C09.017  And denized a Stranger, who, (mistaught
138.C09.018  By blamers of y%5e%6 times they marr'd,) hath sought
138.C09.019  Virtues in corners, which now brauely doe
138.C09.020  Shine in y%5e%6 worlds best parts, or All it, You.
138.C09.021  I haue beene told that virtue in Courtiers heartes
138.C09.022  Suffers an Ostracisme & departes,
138.C09.023  Profitt, Ease, fitnesse, plenty bid it goe
138.C09.024  But whither, only knowing you, I know;
138.C09.025  Your, (or you,) virtue two vast vses serues
138.C09.026  It ransomes one Sex, & one Court p%5r%6serues.
138.C09.027  Ther's nothing but your worth, which, (being true)
138.C09.028  Is knowne to any other, not to you,
138.C09.029  And you can neuer know it; to admitt
138.C09.030  No knowledge of your worth, is some of it.|
138.C09.031  But since to you |your| prayses Discords bee
138.C09.032  Stoope others ills to meditate with me.
138.C09.033  Oh, to confesse we know not what we should
138.C09.034  Is halfe excuse, we know not what we would
138.C09.035  Lightnesse depresses vs, emptinesse fills
138.C09.036  We sweat & faint yet still goe downe y%5e%6 hills.
138.C09.037  As new Philosophy arrests the Sun
138.C09.038  And bidds the passiue Earth about it runne
138.C09.039  So we haue dull'd o%5r%6 mind, It, hath no ends
138.C09.040  Only the body's busy & pretends.
138.C09.041  As dead low earth ecclipses & controwles
138.C09.042  The quick & high mo>%Vo<ne, so doth y%5e%6 body soules.
138.C09.043  In none but vs are such mixt engines found
138.C09.044  As handes of double office. ffor, the ground [CW:>>we#till<<]
138.C09.045  We till with them, & them to heauen we raise. [74]
138.C09.046  Who prayer-lesse labours, or without this prayes
138.C09.047  Doth but one halfe, that's none>,%>.< He which sayd plow
138.C09.048  And looke not backe, to looke vp doth allow.
138.C09.049  Good seed degenerates & oft obayes
138.C09.050  The soyles disease & into Cockle strayes.
138.C09.051  Lett y%5e%6 minds thoughtes but be transplanted so
138.C09.052  Into y%5e%6 body, & bastardly they grow.
138.C09.053  What Hate could hurt o%5r%6 bodyes like o%5r%6 loue?
138.C09.054  Wee, but no forraigne Tyrants could, remoue
138.C09.055  These not ingrau'd but in-borne dignityes
138.C09.056  Casketts of Soules, Temples & Pallaces
138.C09.057  ffor Bodyes shall from death redeemed bee
138.C09.058  Soules but p%5r%6seru'd, borne naturally free
138.C09.059  As men to o%5r%6 prisons now, soules to vs are sent
138.C09.060  which learne vice there, & come in innocent.
138.C09.061  ffirst seedes of euery Creature are in vs,
138.C09.062  what ere y%5e%6 world hath, bad, or p%5r%6cious
138.C09.063  Mans body can produce. Hence hath it beene
138.C09.064  That stones, wor'mes,[sic] frogges, & snakes in man are seene:
138.C09.065  But who ere saw (though nature can worke so,)
138.C09.066  That Pearle or gold, or Corne in man did grow?
138.C09.067  Wee haue added to the world Virginia, & sent
138.C09.068  Two new Starrs lately to the firmament
138.C09.069  why grudge we vs, not heauen, y%5e%6 dignitye
138.C09.070  To increase with ours those fayre Soules company?
138.C09.071  But I must end this letter. Though it doe
138.C09.072  Stand on two Truths, neither is truth to you.
138.C09.073  Virtue hath some perversnesse: for shee will
138.C09.074  neither beleeue her good, nor others ill.
138.C09.075  Euen in |you| virtues best Paradise,
138.C09.076  Virtue hath some, but wise, degrees of vice
138.C09.077  Too many virtues or too much of one
138.C09.078  Begetts on you vniust suspicion: [CW:om]
138.C09.079  And Ignorance of vice makes virtue lesse [74v]
138.C09.080  Quenching Compassion of o%5r%6 wretchednesse.
138.C09.081  But these are riddles, some aspersion
138.C09.082  of vice becomes well some complexion.
138.C09.083  Statesmen purge Vice with Vice, & may corrode
138.C09.084  The bad with bad, a Spidar w%5th%6 a Toade,
138.C09.085  for so Ill thralls not them, but they thrall Ill
138.C09.086  And make her doe much good against her will.
138.C09.087  But in |your| com%Monwealth, or world in you
138.C09.088  Vice hath no office, nor good worke to doe.
138.C09.089  Take then no vitious purge but be content
138.C09.090  With cordiall virtue, your knowne nourishment.|
138.C09.0SS  [horiz. lines]
138.C09.0$$  %1L.31 ind; no sts; short, horiz. ll. separate HE from body; "y%5e%6" in l.36 
might be scribally canceled --EWS/o%2