No More Learning

Oh! to confesse wee know not what we should,
Is halfe excuse; wee know not what we would:
Lightnesse depresseth us, emptinesse fills, 35
We sweat and faint, yet still goe downe the hills.
As new Philosophy arrests the Sunne,
And bids the passive earth about it runne,
So wee have dull'd our minde, it hath no ends;
Onely the bodie's busie, and pretends; 40
As dead low earth ecclipses and controules
The quick high Moone: so doth the body, Soules.
In none but us, are such mixt engines found,
As hands of double office: For, the ground
We till with them; and them to heav'n wee raise; 45
Who prayer-lesse labours, or, without this, prayes,
Doth but one halfe, that's none; He which said, _Plough
And looke not back_, to looke up doth allow.
Good seed degenerates, and oft obeyes
The soyles disease, and into cockle strayes; 50
Let the minds thoughts be but transplanted so,
Into the body,'and bastardly they grow.
What hate could hurt our bodies like our love?
Wee (but no forraine tyrants could) remove
These not ingrav'd, but inborne dignities, 55
Caskets of soules; Temples, and Palaces:
For, bodies shall from death redeemed bee,
Soules but preserv'd, not naturally free.
As men to'our prisons, new soules to us are sent,
Which learne vice there, and come in innocent. 60
First seeds of every creature are in us,
What ere the world hath bad, or pretious,
Mans body can produce, hence hath it beene
That stones, wormes, frogges, and snakes in man are seene:
But who ere saw, though nature can worke soe, 65
That pearle, or gold, or corne in man did grow?
We'have added to the world Virginia,'and sent
Two new starres lately to the firmament;
Why grudge wee us (not heaven) the dignity
T'increase with ours, those faire soules company. 70
But I must end this letter, though it doe
Stand on two truths, neither is true to you,
Vertue hath some perversenesse; For she will
Neither beleeve her good, nor others ill.
Even in you, vertues best paradise, 75
Vertue hath some, but wise degrees of vice.
Too many vertues, or too much of one
Begets in you unjust suspition;
And ignorance of vice, makes vertue lesse,
Quenching compassion of our wrechednesse. 80
But these are riddles; Some aspersion
Of vice becomes well some complexion.
Statesmen purge vice with vice, and may corrode
The bad with bad, a spider with a toad:
For so, ill thralls not them, but they tame ill 85
And make her do much good against her will,
But in your Commonwealth, or world in you,
Vice hath no office, or good worke to doe.
Take then no vitious purge, but be content
With cordiall vertue, your knowne nourishment. 90


[the _&c. _ _1633-69:_ To the Countesse of B. _N_, _O'F_,
_TCD_]

[5 debt _1669_, _N_, _O'F_, _TCD:_ doubt _1633-54_]

[7 soe; _Ed:_ soe, _1633-54:_ soe. _1669_

_nothings_, _1635-54:_ _nothing_, _1633_, _N_, _TCD:_
_Nothing_ _1669_

may] may, _1633_]

[14 hath] have _1633:_ _om. _ _N_, _TCD_ (have _inserted_)

_Dian's_ _1635-54:_ Dian's _1633:_ _Dina's_ _1669_]

[20 or all It; You. _1635-54:_ or all it, you. _1669_, _N_,
_O'F_, _TCD:_ or all, in you. _1633_ (you, _some copies_)]

[25 Your (or you) vertue _O'F:_ Your, or you vertue,
_1633-54:_ You, or you vertue, _1669_]

[26 preserves. _Ed:_ preserves; _1633-69_]

[28 you:] you. _1633-39_]

[30 is some] it some _1633_]

[32 Stoop, others ills] Stoop (Stop _1633_) others ills,
_1633-54:_ Stoop others ills _1669_]

[34 excuse; _Ed:_ excuse, _1633-69_, _Grosart_ (_who
transposes_ should _and_ would), _Chambers:_ excuse _Grolier_.
_See note_

would: _Ed:_ would] _1633-69_]

[36 the hills. _Ed:_ the hills; _1633-69_]

[37 Philosophy. Phylosophy _1633 some copies_, _1669_]

[45 raise;] raise _1633_]

[46 this,] these _1669_]

[50 strayes; _Ed:_ strayes. _1633-69_]

[51 Let] Let but _1669_]

[54 Wee (but no forraine tyrants could) remove _Ed:_ Wee but
no forraine tyrants could, remove _O'F:_ Wee but no forraigne
tyrants could remove, _1633-54_ (tyrans _1633_): We, but no
forrain tyrants, could remove _1669_, _Chambers and Grolier_.
_See note_]

[55 dignities, _Ed:_ dignities _1633-69_]

[56 Palaces: _1633-35:_ Palaces.