button to main menu  Drayton 1622, preface part 2, 4

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preface to part 2, 4:-
and then:-
To his Noble Friend, MICHAEL DRAYTON, Esquire, upon his Topo-chrono-graphicall POEME.
eulogy

FRom CORNWAL'S Foreland to the Cliffs of DOVER,
O're hilly CAMBRIA, and all ENGLAND over,
Thy Muse hath borne me; and (in foure dayes) showne
More goodly Prospects, then I could have knowne
In foure yeares Travailes; if I had not thus
Beene mounted, on thy winged PEGASUS.

The famous Rivers, the delightsome Fountaines,
The fruitfull Vallies, the steepe-rising Mountaines,
The new built Towres, the ancient-ruin'd Walls,
The wholesome Baths, the bedds of Mineralls;
The nigh-worne Monuments of former Ages;
The Workes of Peace, the Marks of Civill-rages;
The Woods, the Forrests, and the open Plaines,
With whatsoe're this spacious Land containes,
For Profit, or for Pleasure: I o're-looke,
(As from one Station) when I read thy Booke.

Nor doe mine eyes from thence behold alone,
Such Things, as for the present there are done,
(Or Places, as this day, they doe appeare)
But Actions past, and Places as they were
A hundred Ages since, as well as now:
Which, he that wearies out his feet to know,
Shall never finde, nor yet so cheape attaine
(With so much ease and profit) halfe that againe.
Good-speed befall Thee; who hast wag'd a Taske,
That better Censures, and Rewards doth aske,
Then these Times have to give. For, those that should
The honors of true POESY uphold,
Are (for the most part) such as doe preferre
The fawning Lynes of every Pamphleter,
Before the best-writ POEMS. And their sight
Or cannot, or else dares not, eye the Flight
Of free-borne NUMBERS; least bright VIRTUE'S fame
Which flies in those, reflect on them, their shame.

Tis well; thy happy Judgement, could devise,
Which way, a man this Age might Poetize,
And
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