And they may lose the field, the field that win.
In Civil Warres ’twixt Subjects and their King,
There is no conquest got, by conquering.
Warre ill begun, the onely way to mend,
Is t’end the Warre before the Warre do end.
They that will end ill Warres, must have the skill,
To make an end by Rule, and not by Will.
In ending Warres ’tween Subjects and their Kings,
Great things are sav’d by losing little things.
The first whole volume in English printed in the Western Hemisphere (printing of Spanish books in Mexico had long preceded) was “The Bay Psalm Book,” Cambridge, 1640. This represented a conscientious attempt to put into the service of worship a literal translation of the Psalms. The worst passages are all too frequently cited as evidence of the inability of the Puritans to compose or appreciate good verse. And this in spite of the often-quoted and charmingly written prose comment in the editors’ preface: