Page:The muses threnodie (Adamson, 1638).djvu/12
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Whose famous relicts are all flowr'd,
And all with precious pouldar stowr'd:
And richly deckt with curious hingers,
Wrought by Arachne's nimble fingers.
This is his store-house and his treasure,
This is his Paradise of pleasure,
This is the Arcenall of Gods,
Of all the world this is the oddes:
This is the place Apollo chuses,
This is the residence of Muses:
And to conclude all this in one,
This is the Romaine Pantheon.
And all with precious pouldar stowr'd:
And richly deckt with curious hingers,
Wrought by Arachne's nimble fingers.
This is his store-house and his treasure,
This is his Paradise of pleasure,
This is the Arcenall of Gods,
Of all the world this is the oddes:
This is the place Apollo chuses,
This is the residence of Muses:
And to conclude all this in one,
This is the Romaine Pantheon.
An apologie of the Author,
done as by the Mourner,
to the Lovers of Learning.
done as by the Mourner,
to the Lovers of Learning.
Let none offend, though in mine age I sing
Swan-like, some lawfull joyes youthead did bring:
My songs are mournings, which may clearly shew
Th'inconstant course of all things here below:
Yet guided by that steadfast hand alwayes
Which, midst confusions great, the ballance stayes:
Thus Heraclitus-like sometimes I mourne
At giddie Fortunes reelings: thence I turne
Like to Democritus in laughter wholly
To see th'inconstant changes of her folly.
Thus do I mourne, and laugh oftimes, by course,
As giddie Fortune reeles from good to worse:
For neither is the battell to the strong,[1]
Nor doth unto the swift the race belong,
Nor bread to these whose wit should have commanding,
Nor riches to the men of understanding:
Swan-like, some lawfull joyes youthead did bring:
My songs are mournings, which may clearly shew
Th'inconstant course of all things here below:
Yet guided by that steadfast hand alwayes
Which, midst confusions great, the ballance stayes:
Thus Heraclitus-like sometimes I mourne
At giddie Fortunes reelings: thence I turne
Like to Democritus in laughter wholly
To see th'inconstant changes of her folly.
Thus do I mourne, and laugh oftimes, by course,
As giddie Fortune reeles from good to worse:
For neither is the battell to the strong,[1]
Nor doth unto the swift the race belong,
Nor bread to these whose wit should have commanding,
Nor riches to the men of understanding:
Nor
- ↑ Eccles. 9. 11.