Abraham Cowley

Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.

Oh happy, (if his happiness he knows) The Countrey Swain! on whom kind Heav'n bestows At home all Riches that wise Nature needs; Whom the just Earth with easie plenty feeds.

Hence, ye profane! I hate ye all, Both the great vulgar and the small.

A man in much business must either make himself a knave, or else the world will make him a fool.

I would not fear nor wish my fate, But boldly say each night, To-morrow let my sun his beams display, Or in clouds hide them; I have liv'd to-day.

Thus would I double my life's fading space; For he that runs it well, runs twice his race.

Acquaintance I would have, but when't depends Not on the number, but the choice of friends.

This only grant me, that my means may lie Too low for envy, for contempt too high.

We griev'd, we sigh'd, we wept; we never blush'd before.

The monster London laugh at me.

Let but thy wicked men from out thee go, And all the fools that crowd thee so, Even thou, who dost thy millions boast, A village less than Islington wilt grow, A solitude almost.

If of their pleasures and desires no end be found; God to their cares and fears will set no bound. What would content you? Who can tell? Ye fear so much to lose what you have got As if ye liked it well. Ye strive for more, as if ye liked …

To virgin minds, which yet their native whiteness hold, Not yet discoloured with the love of gold (That jaundice of the soul, Which makes it look so gilded and so foul)

God the first garden made, and the first city Cain.

The fairest garden in her looks, And in her mind the wisest books.

To be a husbandman, is but a retreat from the city; to be a philosopher, from the world; or rather, a retreat from the world, as it is man's, into the world, as it is God's.

His time is forever, everywhere his place.

Awake, awake, my Lyre! And tell thy silent master's humble tale In sounds that may prevail; Sounds that gentle thoughts inspire: Though so exalted she And I so lowly be

Thus each extream to equal danger tends, Plenty as well as Want can separate Friends;

An harmless flaming meteor shone for hair, And fell adown his shoulders with loose care.

When Israel was from bondage led, Led by the Almighty's hand From out of foreign land, The great sea beheld and fled.

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, But an eternal now does always last.

He saw the beauties of his shape and face, His female sweetness, and his manly grace

Unable to corrupt, seek to destroy; And where their Poysons miss, the Sword employ.