be more odious and inexcusable, thy judgement more severe, and (which is worst) thy punishment most intolerable. I say seek, therefore (if for no other cause) so to carry thyself, that at least thou mayest have a good conscience before God; for, si Deus tecum, quis contra te? But if now having made the world thine enemy, exposed thyself to the malice thereof, and hav ing so many legions of foes without thee, thou shouldest also, by thy negligence, suffer the invincible fortress of a sound conscience to be crazed within thee, the devil, that is always watching such advantages, would quickly possess it with so unmerciful a troop of horrors, fears and desperations, that without: GOD's miraculous assistance, thou wouldest grow wholly past either comfort or recovery.

For all the world cannot defend thee against thy conscience; but that being with thee, thou mayest prevail against all the world. Beware then, do not like the Zebithum, yield a perfume to sweeten others, and be thyself a stinking vermin; but let this thy own work be confirmed by thine own life and conversation; yea, let it be a precedent to thyself: for, tanti erit aliis quanti tibi fuerit, But if not, I say, if the world mis-esteem either it or thee, yet do not thou therefore esteem the less either of thy book or of thyself; but rather let them know,

That thou hast learned, still thy care shall be
A rush for him, that cares a straw for thee.

But now, though for these and divers other reasons I have to thee, my own-self, committed the protection and made the dedication of this book, yet my meaning is, not that thou shouldest keep it wholly to thine own use, but rather, seeing it is honorable to give, I have bestowed this on thee, that if thou canst in this cor rupted age find any whom desert and thy love may make so dear to thee; or whom thou art persuaded will gratify (or but think well of thy honest endeavors) thou mayest be liberal to them, both of these thy labours and expences.

But this I conjure thee, be they ever so great, yet flatter not; or if he be a man whom thou knowest the world speaks any way justly ill of, either tell him his fault, or leave him wholly out of thy catalogue. But because I begin to grow tedious to my own-self, since therefore I shall have opportunity enough to consider with thee what is further needful without an epistle, with my prayers for my Prince, my Country and my Friends, and my own prosperity, without any leavetaking, or commendations of myself, I heartily wish my own soul to farewell.

Thy Prince's, thy Country's, thy Friend's,

Thine Own,

Whilst reason masters affection,

GEORGE WITHER.

THE OCCASION of this WORK.

WHEN nimble time, that all things over-runs, Made me forsake my tops and eldren guns, Reaching those years in which the school-boys brag,

In leaving off the bottle and the bag;
The very spring before I grew so old,
That I had almost thrice five winters told;
Noting my other fellow-pupils haste,
That to our English Athens flock'd so fast,
Lest others for a truant should suspect me;
That had the self-same tutor to direct me,
And in a manner counting it a shame
To undergo so long a school-boy's name,
Thither went I. For though I'll not compare
With many of them that my fellows were,
Yet, to my teacher's praise (I speak it now)
Į all the forms in school had quite run through,}
And was no whit for grammar-rules to seek
In Lillie's latin, nor in Camden's greek;
But so well grounded, that another day
I could not with our idle students say
For my excuse, I was not enter'd well;
For that I was so, can my fellows tell.
And therefore since I came no wiser thence,

I must confess it was my negligence;
Yet daily longing to behold and see
The places where the sacred sisters be,
I was so happy to that Ford I came,
Which of the labouring Ox doth bear the name.
It is a spring of knowledge that imparts

A thousand several sciences and arts,

A pure, clear fount, whose water is by odds
Far sweeter than the nectar of the gods;
Or rather (truly to entitle it)

It is the wholesome nursery of wit.

There once arriv'd, in years and knowledge

raw,

I fell to wond'ring at each thing I saw ;

And for my learning made a month's vacation, In noting of the place's situation,

The palaces and temples that were due

Unto the wise Minerva's hallow'd crew,

Their cloisters, walks and groves; all which survey'd,

And in my new admittance well a-paid;

I did (as other idle freshmen do)

Long to go see the bell of Osney too;
And yet for certainty I cannot tell
That e'er I drank at Aristotle's well;
And that perhaps may be the reason why
I know so little in philosophy.

Yet old Sir Harry Bath was not forgot,

In the remembrance of whose wond'rous shot,
The forest by (believe it they that will)
Was nam'd Shot-over, as we call it still.

But having this experience, and withall
Atchiev'd some cunning at the tennis-ball,
My tutor (telling me I was not sent
To have my time there vain and idly spent)
From childish humours gently call'd me in,
And with his brave instructions did begin
To teach, and by his good persuasion sought
To bring me to a love of what he taught,

Then after that he labour'd to impart
The hidden secrets of the logic art;
Instead of grammar-rules, he read me then
Old Scotus, Seton, and new Keckerman.
He shew'd me which the prædicables be,
As genus, species, and the other three:
So having said enough of their contents,
Handles in order the ten prædicaments;
Next post-prædicamenta with priorum,
Perhermenias and posteriorum.

He with the topics opens, and descries
Elenchi, full of subtle fallacies.

These to unfold, indeed, he took much pain,

But to my dull capacity in vain ;
For all he spake was to as little pass
As in old time, unto the vulgar was

!