Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SWORD AND BUCKLER; OR, SERVING-MAN'S DEFENCE: TO THE READER, by WILLIAM BASSE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SWORD AND BUCKLER; OR, SERVING-MAN'S DEFENCE: TO THE READER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Reade if you will: and if you will not chuse
Last Line: I rest your honest, carelesse friend
Subject(s): Books; Reading


READE if you will: And if you will not chuse,
My booke (Sir) shall be read though you refuse:
But if you doe, I pray commend my wit,
For, by my faith, 'tis first that ere I writ.
Who reades and not commends, it is a rule
To hold him very wise, or very foole.

But whosoere commends, and doth not reede,
What ere the other is, he's a foole indeede:
But who doth neither reade nor yet commend,
God speed him well; his labour's at an end.
But reade, or praise, or not, or how it pas,
I rest your honest, carelesse friend





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