No More Learning

Artless the scene was, and that monstrous sin
Of deep and arrant ignorance came in:
Such ignorance as theirs was who once hiss'd
At thy unequall'd play, the _Alchemist_;
Oh, fie upon 'em! Lastly, too, all wit
In utter darkness did, and still will sit,
Sleeping the luckless age out, till that she
Her resurrection has again with thee.


383. ANOTHER.

Thou had'st the wreath before, now take the tree,
That henceforth none be laurel-crown'd but thee.


384. TO HIS NEPHEW, TO BE PROSPEROUS IN HIS ART OF PAINTING.

On, as thou hast begun, brave youth, and get
The palm from Urbin, Titian, Tintoret,
Brugel and Coxu, and the works outdo
Of Holbein and that mighty Rubens too.
So draw and paint as none may do the like,
No, not the glory of the world, Vandyke.

_Urbin_, Raphael.
_Brugel_, Jan Breughel, Dutch landscape painter (1569-1625), or his
father or brother.
_Coxu_, Michael van Coxcie, Flemish painter (1497-1592).


386. A VOW TO MARS.

Store of courage to me grant,
Now I'm turn'd a combatant;
Help me, so that I my shield,
Fighting, lose not in the field.
That's the greatest shame of all
That in warfare can befall.
Do but this, and there shall be
Offer'd up a wolf to thee.


387. TO HIS MAID, PREW.

These summer-birds did with thy master stay
The times of warmth, but then they flew away,
Leaving their poet, being now grown old,
Expos'd to all the coming winter's cold.
But thou, kind Prew, did'st with my fates abide
As well the winter's as the summer's tide;
For which thy love, live with thy master here,
Not one, but all the seasons of the year.


388. A CANTICLE TO APOLLO.

Play, Phoebus, on thy lute;
And we will all sit mute,
By listening to thy lyre,
That sets all ears on fire.

Hark, hark, the god does play!
And as he leads the way
Through heaven the very spheres,
As men, turn all to ears.


389. A JUST MAN.

A just man's like a rock that turns the wrath
Of all the raging waves into a froth.


390. UPON A HOARSE SINGER.