April 10. 1674.
To his Worthy Friend Mr. Thomas Flatman
on the publishing of his Poems.
I.
I think thou art not well advised, my friend,
To bring thy spritely Poems on the stage
Now when the Muses' empire 's at an end
And there 's none left that feel poetic rage,
Now Cowley's dead, the glory of the age,
And all the lesser singing birds are starved i'th' cage.