IDENTILIN$$  F145B32 Sal|Harley 4955, ff. 141v-142\GL\P:GAS\o\6-23-95\C:JSC('95 & 7-26-00)\GAS format change 10-16-02
145.B32.0HE  %XTo the Countesse of Salisbury. /%XAug: 1614. [see_format_note]
145.B32.001  Fayre, Greatt, & Good, since seeing you, wee see,
145.B32.002  What Heaun can doe, & what any Earth can bee,
145.B32.003  Since nowe your beauty shynes, nowe when the sunne
145.B32.004  Growne stale, is to so lowe a Valew runne,
145.B32.005  That his discheuel'd beames, & scattred fyres
145.B32.006  Serue but for ladyes Periwiggs, & Tyres
145.B32.007  In lovers sonnetts, you come to repayre
145.B32.008  Gods booke of Creatures, teaching what is fayre;
145.B32.009  Synce nowe, when all is withre%Cd shronke, & dryde,
145.B32.010  All vertue ebbd out, to a dead lowe tyde,
145.B32.011  All the worlds frame beeing Crumbled into sand,
145.B32.012  Where ev%Cry Man thincks by Hymselfe to stand,
145.B32.013  Integrytye, Frendship, & Confidence,
145.B32.014  Ciments of Greatnes beeing vapor'd hence,
145.B32.015  And narrowe man, beeing fill'd w%5th%6 little shares,
145.B32.016  Court, Citye, Church, are all shopps of small wares,
145.B32.017  All haueing blowne to sparkes, theyre Noble fyre
145.B32.018  And drawne theyre sound Gold-Ingott into wyer,
145.B32.019  All trying by a love of litlenesse,
145.B32.020  To make Abridgments, & to drawe to lesse
145.B32.021  Euen that Nothing, w%5ch%6 at first wee weare,
145.B32.022  Synce in these tymes your Greatnes doth appeare,
145.B32.023  And that wee learne by itt, that Man to gett
145.B32.024  Towardes him, that's infynite, must first be greate;
145.B32.025  Since in an Age so ill, as none is fitt
145.B32.026  So much as to accuse, much lesse mend ytt; [CW:om]
145.B32.027  (For who can iudge, or wittnes of those Tymes, [142]
145.B32.028  Where>%Y%Vhee%Z< all alike are guilty of the Crymes?)
145.B32.029  Where >%Vhee< that would be good, is taught by All,
145.B32.030  A Monster, or at best, fantasticall,
145.B32.031  Synce nowe you durst bee Good, and that I doe
145.B32.032  Diserne, by daring to Contemplate you,
145.B32.033  That there may be degrees of Fayre, Greate, Good,
145.B32.034  Through your light, largenes, vertue, vnderstood;
145.B32.035  If in this sacrifice of myne, be showen
145.B32.036  Any small sparke of these, call yt your owne.
145.B32.037  And if thinges like these, haue bin sayd by mee
145.B32.038  Of Others, Call nott that Idolatree.
145.B32.039  for had God made man first, & man had seene
145.B32.040  The Third dayes fruites, and flowers, & various Greene,
145.B32.041  He might haue sayd the best that he could say
145.B32.042  Of those fayre Creatures, w%5ch%6 weare made that Day;
145.B32.043  And when next Daye, he had admir'd the birth,
145.B32.044  Of sunne, Moone, starrs, fayrer then late prays'd Earth,
145.B32.045  He might haue sayd the best that he could say
145.B32.046  And not be chidde for praysing yesterday,
145.B32.047  So though some thinges are not togeather true
145.B32.048  (As that Another is worthyest, & that you)
145.B32.049  Yett to say so, doth nott Condemne a Man,
145.B32.050  If when he spoke them, they weare both true Than.
145.B32.051  How fayre a proofe of this, in our soule growes?
145.B32.052  Wee first haue soules of Growth, & sence, & those,
145.B32.053  When our last soule, our soule inmortall came
145.B32.054  Were swallow'd into yt, & haue noe name.
145.B32.055  Nor doth he iniure those soules w%5ch%6 doth cast
145.B32.056  The Power, & Prayse of both them, on the last.
145.B32.057  Noe more doe I wrong Any; I Adore
145.B32.058  The same things now, w%5ch%6 I ador'd before;
145.B32.059  The subiect chang'd, & measure;  The same thinge
145.B32.060  In a lowe Constable, & in the King
145.B32.061  I reverence; His Power to worke on mee:
145.B32.062  Soe did I humbly Reuerence each Degree
145.B32.063  Of Fayre, Greate, Good, but more now I am come
145.B32.064  From haueing found theyre Walkes, to fynde theyre home.
145.B32.065  And as I owe my first soules thanks, that they
145.B32.066  For my last soule did fitt, & mould my Clay,
145.B32.067  So am I debtor vnto them whose worthe
145.B32.068  Enabled mee to profitt, & take forth
145.B32.069  This new greate lesson, thus to study you,
145.B32.070  W%5ch%6 none, not reading others first, cold doe.
145.B32.071  Nor lack I light to read thys Booke, though I
145.B32.072  In a darke Caue, yea in a Graue doe lye,
145.B32.073  For as your fellowe-Angells, soe you doe
145.B32.074  Illustrate them who came to study you;
145.B32.075  The first whom wee in Hystoryes doe fynde
145.B32.076  To haue profess'd all Arts, was one borne blynde;
145.B32.077om
145.B32.078om
145.B32.079  So, though I'ame borne, w%5th%6out those Eyes to live,
145.B32.080  W%5ch%6 fortune, who hath none herselfe, doth giue,
145.B32.081  W%5ch%6 are fitt meanes to see bright Courts, & you,
145.B32.082  Yett may I see you thus, as nowe I doe,
145.B32.083  I shall by that, all Goodnes haue discern'd,
145.B32.084  And though I burne my lybrarye,,[sic] be learn'd.|
145.B32.0SS  [om]
145.B32.0$$  %1No ind; first three words of header in large gothic letters.%2