THE GODLY.
A godly man, that has served out his time
In holiness, may set up any crime;
As scholars, when they've taken their degrees
May set up any faculty they please.
PIETY.
Why should not piety be made,
As well as equity, a trade,
And men get money by devotion,
As well as making of a motion?
B' allow'd to pray upon conditions,
As well as suitors in petitions?
And in a congregation pray,
No less than Chancery, for pay?
MARRIAGE.
All sorts of vot'ries, that profess
To bind themselves apprentices
To Heaven, abjure, with solemn vows,
Not Cut and Long-tail, but a Spouse
As the worst of all impediments
To hinder their devout intents.
POETS.
It is not poetry that makes men poor;
For few do write that were not so before;
And those that have writ best, had they been rich.
Had ne'er been clapp'd with a poetic itch;
Had loved their ease too well to take the pains
To undergo that drudgery of brains;
But, being for all other trades unfit,
Only t' avoid being idle, set up wit.
PUFFING.
They that do write in authors' praises,
And freely give their friends their voices
Are not confined to what is true;
That's not to give, but pay a due:
For praise, that's due, does give no more
To worth, than what it had before;
But to commend without desert,
Requires a mastery of art,
That sets a gloss on what's amiss,
And writes what should be, not what is.