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Mine and your Fathers, and not see the light,
Till time and care have ripned every Line.
What you keep by you, you may change, & mend,
But words once spoke can never be recall'd.
Orpheus inspir'd by more than humane power,
Did not (as Poets feign) tame savage Beasts,
But Men as lawless, and as wild as they,
And first disuaded them from rage and bloud;
Thus when Amphion built the Theban Wall,
They feign'd the Stones obey'd his Magick Lute;
Poets the first Instructers of Mankind,
Brought all things to their proper, native Use;
Some they appropriated to the Gods,
And some to publick, some to private ends:
Promiscuous love by marriage was restrain'd
Cities were built, and usefull Laws were made;
So ancient is the pedigree of Verse,
And so divine a Poets function.
Till time and care have ripned every Line.
What you keep by you, you may change, & mend,
But words once spoke can never be recall'd.
Orpheus inspir'd by more than humane power,
Did not (as Poets feign) tame savage Beasts,
But Men as lawless, and as wild as they,
And first disuaded them from rage and bloud;
Thus when Amphion built the Theban Wall,
They feign'd the Stones obey'd his Magick Lute;
Poets the first Instructers of Mankind,
Brought all things to their proper, native Use;
Some they appropriated to the Gods,
And some to publick, some to private ends:
Promiscuous love by marriage was restrain'd
Cities were built, and usefull Laws were made;
So ancient is the pedigree of Verse,
And so divine a Poets function.
Then
