Category: PART III

Nature most pleasure doth to poets give,
If pleasure¹ in variety doth² live.
Each sense of theirs³ by fancy new is fed,
Which fancy in a torrent brain is bred.
Contrary ’tis⁴ to all that’s born on Earth,                                    5
For fancy is delighted most at’s birth.
Whatever else⁵ is born with pain comes forth,⁶
Hath neither beauty, strength, nor perfect growth.⁷
But fancy needs not time to make it grow;⁸
The brain’s⁹ like gods, from whence all things do flow.         10

A garden they’ve, which¹⁰ Paradise we call,¹¹
Forbidden fruits, which tempt young lovers all,
Grow on the trees,¹² which in the midst doth stand,¹³
Beauty on one, desire on th’other hand.¹⁴
The devil,¹⁵ self conceit, full¹⁶ craftily                                       15
Doth¹⁷ take the serpent’s shape of flattery,
For to deceive the female sex thereby,
Which made is¹⁸ only of inconstancy.
The male, high credence, to the female sex¹⁹
Yields fondly anything which they do²⁰ ask.                            20
Two rivers round this garden run about;
The one is confidence, the other doubt.
Every²¹ bank is set with fancy’s flowers;
Wit raines upon them fine refreshing showers.
Truth is the lord and owner²² of this place,                              25
But ignorance this garden out will²³ raze.

Then, from this garden,²⁴ to a forest goes,²⁵
Where many cedars of high knowledge grow,²⁶
Oaks of strong judgment, hazel wits²⁷—which tree
Bears nuts full of conceits, when cracked they be—              30
And smooth-tongued beech; kind-hearted willow²⁸ bows
And yields to all that honesty allows.
Here²⁹ birds of eloquence do sit and sing,
Build nests of logic, reasons forth to bring.³⁰
Some birds of sophistry till hatched there lie;                         35
Winged with false principles, away they fly.
Here doth³¹ the poet hawk, hunt, run³² a race,
Until he weary grows, then leaves this place.

Then³³ goes a-fishing to a river’s side,
Whose water clear doth flow with fancy’s tide;³⁴                   40
Angles with wit to catch the fish of fame,
To feed his mem’ry³⁵ and preserve his name.
Ships of ambition he builds,³⁶ swift and strong;
Sails of imaginations drive ’em along,³⁷
With winds of several praises fills them³⁸ full,                       45
Swims³⁹ on the salt sea brain,⁴⁰ round the world’s skull.
The thoughts are mariners which, that they may⁴¹
’Scape shipwrecks of dislike, work night and day.⁴²
Some⁴³ ships are cast⁴⁴ upon the sands of spite,
And rocks of malice sometimes split them quite.                   50
But merchant poets, whose shipmaster’s⁴⁵ mind,
Do compass take some unknown land to find.

¹

The head of man’s a church, where reason preaches,
Directs the life, and every thought it teaches,
Persuades the mind to live in peace and quiet,
And not in fruitless contemplation’s² riot.
“For why,” says Reason, “you shall damnèd be                 5
From all content, for curiosity;³
To seek about for what⁴ you cannot find
Will⁵ be a torment to a restless mind.”

’Tis strange men think so vain, and seem so sage,
And act so foolish in this latter¹ age.
Their brains are always working some design,
Which plots they dig, as miners in a² mine.
Fancies are min’rals, and³ the mine’s⁴ the head,                5
Some gold, some⁵ silver, iron, tin, some⁶ lead.
The furnace which ’tis melted in is great,
And motion quick doth give⁷ a glowing heat.
The mouth’s the gutter where the ore doth run;⁸
The hammer which the bars do beat’s⁹ the tongue.          10
The ear’s the forge to shape and form it out,
And several merchants send it all about.
And as the metal’s worth, the price is set;
Scholars, which are the buyers, most¹⁰ do get.
On gold and silver, which are fancies fine,                         15
Are poets stamped, as masters of that coin.
Hard iron of strong judgment’s¹¹ fit for use
In¹² peace or war, to join up errors loose.
Though lead is dull, yet often use¹³ is made,
Like to translators in every language¹⁴ trade.                    20
Tin is but¹⁵ weak, and of small strength we see,
Yet, joined with silver wits, ’t makes¹⁶ alchemy.
Half-witted men joined with strong wits might¹⁷ grow
To be of use, and make a glist’ring show.