No More Learning

Laugh at my scraps of clothes, and shun
Me, as a fear'd infection;
Yet, scare-crow-like, I'll walk as one
Neglecting thy derision.


678. TO ANTHEA.

Come, Anthea, know thou this,
_Love at no time idle is_;
Let's be doing, though we play
But at push-pin half the day;
Chains of sweet bents let us make
Captive one, or both, to take:
In which bondage we will lie,
Souls transfusing thus, and die.

_Push-pin_, a childish game in which one player placed a pin and the
other pushed it.
_Bents_, grasses.


679. CRUELTIES.

Nero commanded; but withdrew his eyes
From the beholding death and cruelties.


680. PERSEVERANCE.

Hast thou begun an act? ne'er then give o'er:
_No man despairs to do what's done before_.


681. UPON HIS VERSES.
What offspring other men have got,
The how, where, when, I question not.
These are the children I have left,
Adopted some, none got by theft;
But all are touch'd, like lawful plate,
And no verse illegitimate.

_Touch'd_, tested.


682. DISTANCE BETTERS DIGNITIES.

Kings must not oft be seen by public eyes:
_State at a distance adds to dignities_.


683. HEALTH.

Health is no other, as the learned hold,
But a just measure both of heat and cold.


684. TO DIANEME. A CEREMONY IN GLOUCESTER.

I'll to thee a simnel bring,
'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering:
So that when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.

_Simnel_, a cake, originally made of fine flour, eaten at Mid-Lent.
_A-mothering_, visiting relations in Mid-Lent, but see Note.


685.