132
To Henry Jarmin.
How wicked am I now? no Man can grow
More wicked, till he swears, I am not so:
Since Wealth, which doth authorize Men to erre,
Since Hope, (that is the lawfull'st Flatterer)
Were never mine one houre: yet I am loth
To have lesse pride, than Men possess'd of both:
Fuller of glory, than old Victors be,
That thanke themselves, not Heav'n for Victorie:
Prouder than Kings first Mistresses, who thinke
Their Eies, gazing on Stars, would make Stars winke;
That hope, they rule not by imperiall place,
But by some beautious Charter in the Face.
Yet this my pride, and glory, I thinke lost
Unlesse declar'd, and heightned with a boast,
More wicked, till he swears, I am not so:
Since Wealth, which doth authorize Men to erre,
Since Hope, (that is the lawfull'st Flatterer)
Were never mine one houre: yet I am loth
To have lesse pride, than Men possess'd of both:
Fuller of glory, than old Victors be,
That thanke themselves, not Heav'n for Victorie:
Prouder than Kings first Mistresses, who thinke
Their Eies, gazing on Stars, would make Stars winke;
That hope, they rule not by imperiall place,
But by some beautious Charter in the Face.
Yet this my pride, and glory, I thinke lost
Unlesse declar'd, and heightned with a boast,
Am
