306.8
Miraculous may seeme to him, that reades
2 So straunge ensample of conception;
But reason teacheth that the fruitfull seades
4 Of all things liuing, through impression
Of the sunbeames in moyst complexion,
6 Doe life conceiue and quickned are by kynd:
So after Nilus invndation,
8 Infinite shapes of +creatures+ men do fynd,
Informed in the mud, on which the Sunne hath shynd.
8 creatures > creature 1596
1 Miraculous may seem to him that reads
may > [it may]
2 So strange example of conception;
So > [Such a]
3 But reason teaches that the fruitful seeds 4 Of all things living, through impression 5 Of the sunbeams in moist complexion,
complexion > combination of humours ("cold" or "hot", "moist" or "dry". The "humours", in medieval physiology, were the four chief fluids of the body: blood, phlegm, choler and melancholy. A person's temperament was said to be determined by the relative proportions of these four cardinal humours)
6 Do life conceive and quickened are by kind: