Thus, to lie by me, to quicken my remembrance, I have laid down the Cause and the Proceedings of my sending [being sent] into Kent; where I remain at the writing of this Treatise. Praying GOD, to bless and guide our King aright! to continue the prosperity and welfare of this Kingdom, which, at this time, is shrewdly shaken! to send good and worthy men to be Governors [i.e., Bishops] of our Church! to prosper my mind and body, that I may do nothing that may give a wound to my conscience! and then, to send me patience quietly to endure whatsoever His Divine Majesty shall be pleased to lay upon me! Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis! and, in the end, to give me such a happy deliverance, either in life or death, as may be most for His glory; and for the wholesome example of others! who look much on the actions and passions of Men of my Place.
Ben Jonson.
Answer to Master Wither's Song,
Shall I, wasting in despair.
[Which Song originally appeared in the privately printed edition of Fidelia, in 1617; and was incorporated, with some variations in the text, in Fair Virtue in 1622, as may be seen at p. [454]. Jonson's Parody was printed in a very rare Collection, entitled A Description of Love: with certain Epigrams, Elegies, and Sonnets, &c., the Second Edition of which was printed in 1620. We have here used a copy of the Sixth Edition of 1629, in the British Museum; press mark, C. 39. a.]
Wither.
Shall I, wasting in despair,
Die, because a woman's Fair?
Or my cheeks make pale with care,
'Cause another's rosy are?
Be She fairer than the Day,
Or the flowery meads in May!
If She be not so to me,
What care I, how Fair She be?
Jonson.