151 Money Makes the Mirth
When all birds else do of their music fail,
Money’s the still-sweet-singing nightingale!
152 Tears and Laughter
Knew’st thou one month would take thy life away,
Thou’dst weep; but laugh, should it not last a day.
153 Upon Tears
Tears, though they’re here below the sinner’s brine,
Above, they are the Angels’ spiced wine.
154 On Love
Love’s of itself too sweet; the best of all
Is, when love’s honey has a dash of gall.
155 Peace Not Permanent
Great cities seldom rest; if there be none
T’ invade from far, they’ll find worse foes at home.
156 Pardons
Those ends in war the best contentment bring,
Whose peace is made up with a pardoning.
157 Truth and Error
Twixt truth and error, there’s this difference known
Error is fruitful, truth is only one.
158 Wit Punished Prospers Most
Dread not the shackles; on with thine intent,
Good wits get more fame by their punishment.
159 Burial
Man may want land to live in; but for all
Nature finds out some place for burial.
160 No Pains, No Gains
If little labour, little are our gains;
Man’s fortunes are according to his pains.
161 To Youth
Drink wine, and live here blitheful while ye may;
The morrow’s life too late is; Live to-day.
162 To Enjoy the Time
While fates permit us, let’s be merry;
Pass all we must the fatal ferry;
And this our life, too, whirls away,
With the rotation of the day.
163 Felicity Quick of Flight
Every time seems short to be
That’s measured by felicity;
But one half-hour that’s made up here
With grief, seems longer than a year.
164 Mirth
True mirth resides not in the smiling skin;
The sweetest solace is to act no sin.
165 The Heart
In prayer the lips ne’er act the winning part
Without the sweet concurrence of the heart.
166 Love, What It Is
Love is a circle, that doth restless move
In the same sweet eternity of Love.
167 Dreams
Here we are all, by day; by night we’re hurl’d
By dreams, each one into a several world.
168 Ambition
In man, ambition is the common’st thing;
Each one by nature loves to be a king.
169 Safety on the Shore
What though the sea be calm? Trust to the shore;
Ships have been drown’d, where late they danced before.
170 Upon a Painted Gentlewoman
Men say you’re fair; and fair ye are, ’tis true;
But, hark! we praise the painter now, not you.
171 Upon Wrinkles
Wrinkles no more are, or no less,
Than beauty turn’d to sourness.
172 Casualties
Good things, that come of course, far less do please
Than those which come by sweet contingencies.
173 To Live Freely
Let’s live in haste; use pleasures while we may;
Could life return, ’twould never lose a day.
174 Nothing Free-Cost
Nothing comes free-cost here; Jove will not let
His gifts go from him, if not bought with sweat.
175 Man’s Dying-Place Uncertain
Man knows where first he ships himself; but he
Never can tell where shall his landing be.
176 Loss From the Least
Great men by small means oft are overthrown;
He’s lord of thy life, who contemns his own.
177 Poverty and Riches
Who with a little cannot be content,
Endures an everlasting punishment.
178 Upon Man
Man is composed here of a twofold part;
The first of nature, and the next of art;
Art presupposes nature; nature, she
Prepares the way for man’s docility.
179 Purposes
No wrath of men, or rage of seas,
Can shake a just man’s purposes;
No threats of tyrants, or the grim
Visage of them can alter him;
But what he doth at first intend,
That he holds firmly to the end.