Page:Gondibert, an heroick poem - William Davenant (1651).djvu/322

 run but half my Course) when at the Helm I am threatened with Death; who, though he can visit us but once, seems troublesom; and even in the Innocent may beget such a gravitie, as diverts the Musick of Verse. And I beseech thee (if thou art so civil as to be pleas'd with what is written) not to take it ill, that I run not on till my last gasp. For though I intended in this POEM to strip Nature naked, and clothe her again in the perfect shape of Virtue, yet even in so worthy a Design I shall ask leave to desist, when I am interrupted by so great an experiment as Dying: and 'tis an experiment to the most experienc'd; for no Man (though his Mortifications may be much greater than mine) can say, He has alreadie Dy'd.

It may be Objected by some (who look not on Verse with the Eyes of the Ancients, nor with the Reverence which it still preserves amongst other Nations) that I beget a POEM in an unseasonable time. But be not thou, Reader, (for thine own sake, as well as mine) a common Spectator,