Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE NO LESS KNOWING THAN INGENIOUS MR. HALL, ON HIS .. DETRACTORS, by J. PAWSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE NO LESS KNOWING THAN INGENIOUS MR. HALL, ON HIS .. DETRACTORS, by                    
First Line: Thou need'st no noseless monuments display
Last Line: That verse shall be 'mongst thy erratas set.
Subject(s): Criticism & Critics; Hall, John (1627-1656)


THOU need'st no noseless monuments display,
Or ear-cropp'd images: leave that byway
To those who are contented to be known
By their forefathers' virtues, not their own:
Those who scarce other worth acknowledge will,
Than what each tailor puts into his bill,
Such plumed Estrages, 'tis hard to say
Whether the feathers or the head outweigh:
Thou scorn'st these cheats; thy works purchase thee more,
Than they can swap their heritages for:
A name, I mean, 'mongst those who do advance
Learning as much as they hug Ignorance.
Thou wast a Nestor in thine infancy;
Should they live Nestor's years they'd infants die.
Whene'er they learn, what thou canst teach at ten,
The world in charity shall call them men.
Thy Dwarf and Giant may fit emblems be,
Of what proportion is 'twixt them and thee.
Couldst thou bedwarf thy soul, thou might'st descend,
Perhaps, to please these gallants, and so blend
Words with them now and then, and make a noise
'Bout some gay nothing, or themselves such toys
Couldst thou like, they would thee; till then expect
Poems from them as soon as not-neglect.
If they commend one verse which thou hast writ,
That verse shall be 'mongst thy erratas set.





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