Works

'Tis the Chirurgeon's praise, and height of art,
Not to cut off, but cure the vicious part.

When flowing garments I behold
Inspir'd with purple, pearl and gold,
I think no other, but I see
In them a glorious leprosy
That does infect and make the rent
More mortal in the vestiment....

When to a house I come, and see
The Genius wasteful, more than free:
The servants thumbless, yet to eat
With lawless tooth the flour of wheat:
The sons to suck the milk of kine,...

Those ills that mortal men endure
So long, are capable of cure,
As they of freedom may be sure;
But, that denied, a grief, though small,
Shakes the whole roof, or ruins all.

Life is the body's light; which, once declining,
Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining:
Those counter-changed tabbies in the air,
The sun once set, all of one colour are:...

Like will to like, each creature loves his kind;
Chaste words proceed still from a bashful mind.

This is the height of justice: that to do
Thyself which thou put'st other men unto.
As great men lead, the meaner follow on,
Or to the good, or evil action.

As in our clothes, so likewise he who looks,
Shall find much farcing buckram in our books.

In the old Scripture I have often read,
The calf without meal ne'er was offered;
To figure to us nothing more than this,
Without the heart lip-labour nothing is.

For my part, I never care
For those lips that tongue-tied are:
Tell-tales I would have them be
Of my mistress and of me.
Let them prattle how that I
Sometimes freeze and sometimes fry:...

Little you are, for woman's sake be proud;
For my sake next, though little, be not loud.

One feeds on lard, and yet is lean,
And I but feasting with a bean
Grow fat and smooth. The reason is:
Jove prospers my meat more than his.

God loads and unloads, thus His work begins,
To load with blessings and unload from sins.

That was the proverb. Let my mistress be
Lazy to others, but be long to me.

The longer thread of life we spin,
The more occasion still to sin.

Though long it be, years may repay the debt;
None loseth that which he in time may get.

Great men by small means oft are overthrown;
He's lord of thy life, who contemns his own.

Learn this of me, where'er thy lot doth fall,
Short lot or not, to be content with all.

This axiom I have often heard,
Kings ought to be more lov'd than fear'd.

Whatsoever thing I see,
Rich or poor although it be,
'Tis a mistress unto me.

Be my girl or fair or brown,
Does she smile, or does she frown;
Still I write a sweet-heart down.
...