So, if one man well on a lute doth play,
And haue good horsemanship, and Learning's skill;
Though both his lute and horse we take away,
Doth he not keep his former learning still?
He keepes it doubtlesse, and can vse it to[o];
And doth both th' other skils in power retaine;
And can of both the proper actions doe,
If with his lute or horse he meet againe.
So (though the instruments by which we liue,
And view the world, the bodie's death doe kill;)[154]
Yet with the body they shall all reuiue,
And all their wonted offices fulfill.
Objection III.
But how, till then, shall she herselfe imploy?
Her spies are dead which brought home newes before;
What she hath got and keepes, she may enioy,
But she hath meanes to vnderstand no more.
Then what do those poore soules, which nothing get?
Or what doe those which get, and cannot keepe?
Like buckets[155] bottomlesse, which all out-let
Those Soules, for want of exercise, must sleepe.
Answere.
See how man's Soule against it selfe doth striue:
Why should we not haue other meanes to know?
As children while within the wombe they liue,
Feed by the nauill: here they feed not so.
These children, if they had some vse of sense,
And should by chance their mothers' talking heare;
That in short time they shall come forth from thence,
Would feare their birth more then our death we feare.
They would cry out, 'If we this place shall leaue,
Then shall we breake our tender nauill strings;
How shall we then our nourishment receiue,
Sith our sweet food no other conduit brings?'